Blood and Rose Thorns
by Ally Todd
Summary: Once Klaus has left Mystic Falls new faces begin to arrive in town, some to make mayhem, some to find love and some with more secretive and sinister reasons. Both universes collide in an explosion of death, romance and violence while the natural and supernatural battle for dominance.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: The Windy City**

**Guest Starring Taylor Kitsch as Jamie MacDonald**

To say the least, Nazi Germany's invasion of their ideological nemesis, the Soviet Union was not going all that well. Operation Barbarossa as the assault was codenamed was in full swing but after the Germans had easily swept across the Ukraine and a great deal of eastern Russia their attacks had ground to a halt, thanks primarily to the vicious Russian winter of 1942. Nowhere were the various problems the Wehrmacht were facing more prominent then in and around the city of Stalingrad on the river Volga.

It would be fair to say the outcome of the war on the Eastern Front would hinge around the result in Stalingrad as it was the only thing between the Germans and the oilfields around the Caspian Sea. The Germans had started trying to bomb the city into submission, reducing most of it to rubble but that had only enraged the Red Army who began to counterattack with a vengeance. The Russian winter was biting hard and freezing, starving and dying in their thousands the Wehrmacht fought on. The beleaguered Red Army battalions in the city were reinforced by a massive civilian army and further military personnel coming in from as far away as Siberia. The Germans were now surrounded in the city and Hitler had ordered their commander to hold Stalingrad at all costs and not attempt a breakout.

Because Nazi's and Communist's were sworn enemies the fighting reached a level of brutality that hadn't been seen before. Fighting was a bit of a broad term because with snipers everywhere and extreme close quarters combat becoming the order of the day it was more like organised slaughter. The Germans had lost hundreds of thousands of men while the Red Army and civilian death toll was marching inexorably towards one million. The numbers didn't mean much because the Germans had lost all hope of winning the battle and were simply reduced to a damage limitation exercise. Quite a challenging one to be blunt, as there was considerable amount of damage. They were unused to the viciously cold winter and morale was more or less nonexistent.

Some Germans were less easy to break and while they knew they couldn't win the battle they were hell bent on taking as many Soviet's with them as possible. One of the main squares in the city centre was strewn with dead Red Army members while half a dozen Wehrmacht had surrounded a young soldier and were lashing out with boots and fists.

"Russian dog!" One soldier laughed before taking a short run up and booting his victim in the kidneys.

"He still thinks that the Third Reich will fall!" One soldier jeered before punching his moaning victim savagely in the face. The rest of the soldiers laughed and clapped as the man crawled towards a dropped machine gun.

"Oh no you don't." One of the Germans grabbed him by his legs and dragged him away from the weapon. He flipped the soldier over and kicked him in the ribs before grabbing him by the waistband and the scruff of his neck and throwing him headfirst into an iron railing. "Let's finish this scum off and head over to the grain silos." He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the soldier's bloody face.

"Hold on," Another German spoke up, sounding slightly uneasy. "Is he laughing at us?"

The Germans all fell silent as they realised that the man was indeed laughing in spite of his battered and bloody features and the bodies of his comrades all over the square.

"Looks like we scrambled his brains a bit." The German with the pistol said before pulling out a knife and placing the point gently against the soldiers cheek "What fool laughs when he's inches from death? Maybe losing an eye will make him stop?" His comrades laughed and clapped as two of their number held the man down.

The Germans stopped laughing abruptly as the man chose this point to fight back. As the man with the knife moved in he took a boot to the face, sending him staggering backwards with a broken nose. Then the man head butted the German holding his left arm, making him relinquish his grip. He punched the man on his right before shoving him away and adopting a combat stance, feet apart and centre of gravity low. The Germans exchanged shocked looks but were unable to raise their weapons before their former victim attacked.

The soldier who'd threatened to gouge out his eye was the first casualty. He swung with his knife but his opponent simply ducked out of the way and grabbing him by the throat bore him aloft. Then somehow he threw the unfortunate German through the air with one arm. His fall was broken by the spikes atop the iron railing. The other Germans howled en masse and hurled themselves at the man who until recently they'd been torturing. They were obviously trying to capitalise on the fact that it was five to one odds.

That didn't work.

Another German fell in less than three seconds as the man seized his head and twisted it left and then right, snapping his neck like a twig. Another German pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and aimed but the Red Army solider lashed out with a kick, forcing the shotgun to point upwards under the man's jaw. The gun discharged blasting his head into oblivion. Next the man back flipped gracefully away from them and ended up doing a handstand atop the very same railing their comrade was impaled on. Then he pushed off and landed behind the bewildered Germans. He seized one man by his helmet and pulling his head back whipped out a long and lethal looking homemade knife. Not only did he slit the unfortunate man's throat but continued cutting until his head came away with a fountain of blood.

The remaining two Germans by this point had the presence of mind to pull out their weapons. One fired but missed, partly because firing from the hip only worked in movies but mostly because he was terrified. He fired again but the man simply bowled him over and then sank his teeth into his throat. The German screamed bloody murder but his assailant paid him no heed and eventually his struggles stopped. The last German whipped out a pistol and sighting along the barrel planted a bullet in the mans chest.

"I really hate it when they shoot me." The man growled as he stood up and turned to face the man.

The German practically swallowed his tongue with fright as he beheld the apparition before him. He was covered from head to toe in blood but the German was still able to see the glowing yellow eyes, obscenely chiselled brow line and bared, razor sharp teeth, the canines longer than all the others. He smiled as he came towards the German who backed up while firing his gun.

"Die!" The terrified German cried, firing until his gun clicked uselessly in his hands. "Why won't you die? What the hell are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The man said pleasantly before pulling a railroad spike from within his jacket. "An old friend of mine showed me how to do this."

"Please don't." The German pleaded, braving a glance into the glowing yellow eyes. "You don't have to do this."

"Oh but I do." The man replied menacingly. "Now shut up and let me work. This will only hurt a lot. Oh and once it's over, be a good little boy and tell the devil Jamie MacDonald sent you."

* * *

"So," Damon Salvatore snorted as he and Alaric Saltzman headed towards the Sheriff's office. "What makes you think that this lead isn't a dead end like the last one thousand?"

"I don't," Alaric replied. "But we've got to do follow them all up. You never know when we will stumble across a concrete lead that will help us bring Stefan back home."

"Bringing Stefan back here won't be the hard bit." Damon said gloomily. "He's left a trail of bodies up and down the Eastern seaboard and for all we know he might end up heading inland next. We get him home and we'll probably be spending the next fifty years detoxing him. I never thought I'd regret killing Lexi, but we could really use her expertise."

"Lexi?" Alaric echoed.

"Stefan's BFF." Damon clarified. "She was visiting for Stefan's birthday shortly before you turned up. Seeing as the council were sniffing around I decided the best way to throw them off my scent was to stake Lexi right in front of the Sheriff. Then Logan Fell showed up and undid all my hard work by eating lots of townies."

"And what precisely makes you think this Lexi could help us help Stefan?" Alaric enquired.

"This isn't the only time my baby bro has gone off the rails." Damon explained patiently. "He's fallen off the wagon quite a few times and Lexi was a lot like his sober coach. Her main function was talking him out of suicide, getting him to feed from bags or animals, that sort of thing."

"We don't actually know for sure that this is Stefan who's leaving all these bodies around." Alaric said, doggedly returning to his theory even though he was acutely aware he sounded like he was clutching at straws. "It could be Klaus."

"We've been over this Ric." Damon said wearily. "I know my brother and I know his tells. Every corpse we've seen has Stefan's fingerprints all over them. If it was Klaus there would be a few anomalies."

"Don't you think we should tell Elena what we're doing?" Alaric asked as they entered the Sheriff's building. "I'm she and Jeremy's guardian, more or less and I'm uncomfortable about lying to her face about this."

"The less Elena knows about this, the better." Damon growled. "Which do you think is better for her? Having no knowledge about Stefan's whereabouts or knowing beyond any reasonable doubt that her precious boyfriend is now a whacked out serial killer?"

"Point taken but this is Elena we're talking about." Alaric retorted stubbornly. "We both know that she has a spine of galvanized steel. If you ask me I think we should come clean about what we're doing."

"Maybe, but I didn't ask you." Damon fired back irritably. "Elena has just lost both her biological parents _and _her aunt. She's still a little fragile and I don't really want to think about what the knowledge of Stefan's summer body count might do to her. She's suffered enough."

"What happened to your whole "King of the Uncomfortable Truth" act?" Alaric asked.

"Let's just say that I had an experience of the spiritual variety." Damon said casually before knocking on the door to the Sheriff's office and entering without waiting for an answer. Alaric grimaced at yet another of his friends' cryptic (and frequently tenuous) leaps of logic.

"Thank you for coming Damon." Sheriff Liz Forbes said as she spread a map of the United States across her desk. "Something interesting has come up in my enquiries and I was hoping you might be able to tell me if we're still on Stefan's trail." Ever since Stefan had left town with Klaus, the Sheriff had been conducting an unofficial investigation with Damon and Alaric.

"Show me." Damon ordered.

"Okay we know Stefan was leaving bodies all over the eastern sea board." The Sheriff said. "He's been tearing people up in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia and then suddenly it all goes quiet down there. Then there's a report of a similar killing in Kentucky, followed by two more in Indiana. I hacked the coroner's office and I'd say I'm ninety-nine percent sure that Stefan's the culprit. Do you have any idea why he'd head inland."

"He'll be headed for the Windy City." Damon said immediately without a single iota of doubt. "Back when Stefan was a ripper Chicago was his stamping ground, especially during the prohibition era. Now that he's off the wagon yet again I'll bet my whole drinks cabinet that's where he's headed. No one will notice a few extra girls going walkabout in a city of that size."

"So what do you think we should do?" Alaric asked. "Do we inform local law enforcement?"

"That's the last thing we should do." Damon said vehemently, shooting Alaric a look that indicated he thought he was a bit slow on the uptake. "The police wouldn't be able to contain Stefan even if they could arrest him and for all we know Klaus is still on the scene. It's a perfect recipe for a blood bath."

"So what do you suggest we do?" The Sheriff asked.

"Well ordinarily I'd track Stefan and try to talk him down." Damon grunted noncommittally. "If that didn't work then I'd probably have to beat him into unconsciousness and drag him home. That said, I don't think that'll go too well with that hybrid freak hanging around."

"So we need someone to distract Klaus." Alaric sighed in annoyance. "Preferably someone who can handle themselves against that nutter. Where's Elijah when you need him?"

"Who cares?" Damon muttered under his breath. "I think someone should head to Chicago as soon as possible so we can do a bit of recon and figure out how things stand with Klaus and Stefan. Let's not make a move without getting the whole story?"

"Damon Salvatore making a plan instead of leaping right in and hoping for the best?" Alaric laughed humourlessly. "There's a portent of the apocalypse if there ever was one."

"Very funny Ric." Damon deadpanned. "You should have your own show. You up for a road trip?"

"I guess I haven't got much choice in the matter." Alaric said before he remembered something. "Don't you think we should hold off for a couple of days. After all, Elena's birthday bash is tomorrow night and I think it might be good for her if we were to turn up."

"We're having it at the boarding house." Damon said. "It'd be difficult for me to not turn up. I suppose we'd better make the effort but I have to pick up Andie form work. Good thing if you ask me because being surrounded by obnoxious and hormonal teenagers is pretty close to my definition of hell."

"I thought it was just going to be a little thing." Alaric asked as he and Damon left the Sheriff to her work. "Just a few friends and family."

"Barbie, a.k.a. Caroline Forbes, is organising it." Damon pointed out. "That girl is many things but subtle sure as hell isn't one of them."

* * *

Damon's instincts had turned out to be right on the money. Stefan was in Chicago and Klaus was still with him, the vampire/werewolf hybrid generally content to watch Stefan tear his victims apart rather than take part in the slaughter himself. They'd torn a swathe down the Eastern seaboard towards the Deep South when Stefan had expressed a desire to return to his old stamping ground in Chicago. Klaus was happy to go with his new protégé on this because it would be a lot harder to attract unwanted attention in a city of nine million people.

After settling into a small but opulent hotel and eating house-keeping, Klaus decided they should head out and indulge in the amenities of Chicago's vibrant night life, meaning fast food, malted beverages and sorority sisters. Stefan was fairly content with that idea. He'd suffered a shock in Atlanta when Klaus had suggested that they head to New York City and look in on Mystic Falls en route. Stefan needed to keep Klaus away from Mystic Falls for as long as possible as there was no telling how the hybrid would react when he found out that Elena was still alive and Stefan had been lying through his teeth all summer. He had no doubt that if Klaus discovered this fact he _and _Elena would probably end up in varying states of disassembly.

The night club Klaus had chosen was on the city's south side and was in a converted warehouse. Central heating was clearly not high on the owners list of priorities but the amount of humans, lights and smoke machines meant no one particularly cared. After compelling the bouncers Stefan and Klaus headed into the main room and walked up to the bar. Stefan was about to order a couple of beers when Klaus stopped him. He tapped a bartender on the shoulder and as soon as the man turned around the hybrid seized him by the shirt front and yanked him forwards until they were nose to nose.

"Two glasses of your finest whisky." He growled locking his eyes on the bartenders. "On the house of course."

"If I might make a suggestion," Stefan ventured as the bartender scurried off to fix their drinks. "Maybe you could take it easy? I know there are very few people who are a threat to you at least but maybe you could keep a low profile. I don't fancy being caught in the crossfire."

"Relax Stefan, I like having you around." Klaus chuckled. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"Good to know, but I'm still not particularly comfortable with you drawing attention to us." Stefan shrugged. "It's not my place but I wouldn't complain if you toned it down a tad."

"You're right, it's not your place but you seem to misunderstand Stefan." Klaus said pleasantly. "I just want to have a friendly drink with you, is that so wrong? You see Stefan, you're a vampire. The best thing about being a vampire, at least in my mind is that you don't need a wallet. You want something, you take it. There are no rules for vampires and when you're a vampire/werewolf hybrid who is essentially invincible things are so much better. Trust me Stefan, you stick with me and no one will ever challenge you."

"Make sense I suppose." Stefan said as he clinked his glass against Klaus' and took a sip of whisky. "Good call, this is my kind of drink."

"I'm guessing eighteen years?" Klaus commented. "That said, I'm a sucker for a high iron drink if you know what I mean and I can say with certainty that the ripper of Monterey is no different. Look around you Stefan. Any candidates?"

Stefan sipped his drink as he scanned the crowd for potential victims. There were several women who caught his interest but then his eyes were drawn to a trio of people in the middle of the dance floor. One was a stocky young man with dark hair and an eye patch. He was dancing with a petite red headed woman around the same age. Stefan's attention was grabbed by the third dancer, another woman with blonde hair and a slender athletic build.

"A fine choice." Klaus said approvingly, correctly deducing who Stefan was looking at. "Usually, you'd go over there, ask her to dance and then compel her to head outside but what say you we try something a little different?"

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, suppressing a twinge of unease.

"That woman is a quite exquisite creature." Klaus explained calmly. "Something tells me she won't be left alone but killing potential suitors might reflect badly on us. I think she deserves special treatment if you will. Follow me, watch and learn."

Klaus headed to the edge of the dance floor his eyes pinned on the blonde woman. Stefan followed wondering what the hybrid was up to, although he was fairly sure he'd soon find out. Sure enough, Klaus' plan became clear almost immediately as the man with the eye patch looked around and noted Klaus eyeballing his friend. Klaus barely reacted as the man leaned over and whispered in his friend's ear. Klaus' smile widened as the blonde woman met his eyes and he tipped his glass as if to say "here's to you". Then he turned to Stefan.

"And now we wait." Klaus chuckled enigmatically. Before Stefan could enquire further Klaus headed back to the bar and ordered another glass of whisky. As it turned out they didn't have to wait long.

"Excuse me," A voice said as the blonde girl hopped onto the bar stool on Klaus' other side from Stefan. "You were looking at me earlier weren't you?"

"And?" Klaus replied evenly, slowly twisting around to face her.

"And I was wondering what you wanted and whether or not you were going to buy me a drink?" The woman said before extending her hand to him. "I'm Buffy Summers."

"Klaus," Klaus replied before taking a guess and turning to the nearest bar tender. "A white wine for the lady."

"Good guess," Buffy smiled coyly as she took a mouthful of the drink. "So tell me Klaus, do you have a last name?"

"Not a lot of last names in a place like this." Klaus commented. "I do as it happens but you don't need to know it as I wasn't eyeballing you because I was interested. At the risk of sounding clichéd have you met Stefan?" Klaus slid off his barstool, leaving nothing between Stefan and his next victim. "I'll leave you to it." Klaus placed an alarming amount of stress on the last word before turning around and disappearing into the crowd on the dance floor.

"Sorry about my friend." Stefan said, opting to go with the civil approach. "He's…well I often find myself wondering if compulsive idiot is an actual condition. I'm Stefan Salvatore." He took Buffy's offered hand and gently kissed it.

"Pleased to meet you Stefan." Buffy smiled as she gave him a once over. "So what brings you to the Windy City?"

"We're travelling." Stefan said evenly. "I have to get away from my brother back in Virginia. Klaus and I tried the Deep South for a while but we didn't like it. I've visited Chicago before so once we decided to get shot of the rednecks and unpleasant slavery reminders I suggested we visit and here I am. How did you come to be here?"

"You probably guessed from my accent that I'm from California." Buffy replied easily. "My sister and I just figured that a change would be good so be decided to go somewhere else in the States, east coast probably. We brought a few friends along with us?"

"Any parents?" Stefan asked.

"My father is in Spain with his secretary." Buffy said distastefully. "My mother passed away a few years ago but we're mainly okay because we've got Giles to look after us."

"Giles?" Stefan echoed.

"He was my old high school librarian but also a friends of the family." Buffy clarified. "He's sort of like a surrogate father to my friends and I although you'll never catch him admitting that. I think it's because he's either emotionally stunted or British. Take your pick."

"I think I'll go for emotionally stunted." Stefan replied. "You might have noticed that Klaus is British and he's a blast."

"I see your point." Buffy nodded before looking towards the dance floor. "Would you like to dance?"

"I can't dance." Stefan said before abruptly deciding he was tired of this charade. He leant forward and stared into Buffy's eyes, bringing the full weight of his compulsion to bear on her. Some people were harder to compel than others and while Stefan could run a master class he suspected Buffy might be one of the hardest people to compel he'd ever encountered. There was something different about her.

"Don't scream." Stefan told her. "Don't do anything. You're going to come outside with me and you're going to let me feed on you."

Stefan led Buffy outside and into an alleyway between the club and the next building. Stefan's eyes turned red, his fangs elongated and the capillaries around his eyes bulged. He grabbed Buffy and pushed her head to the side before diving towards her neck. There was a surprise in store however. Buffy effortlessly broke free of Stefan's grip, spun on her left heel and lashed out. It was doubtful Stefan ever saw the blow coming. Buffy's right foot came around and crashed into Stefan's temple with astonishing force. He was slammed against the wall, surprised to say the very least.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Buffy shouted before grabbing a piece two by four and swinging it with all her considerable strength. It hit Stefan hard in the side of the head and threw him several metres away.

"Now that I respect." Stefan commented as he hopped back to his feet. A quick glance told him that the only jewellery she was wearing was a silver crucifix necklace. That meant she must have ingested vervain, and he wasn't that keen on feeding off her with that stuff in her bloodstream. Still, she hadn't reacted when he was attempting to compel her. Stefan frowned as they stared at each other. This was interesting.

"Whats the matter?" Buffy enquired with a dark and vicious smile. "Cat got your tongue?"

"What the hell are you?" Stefan demanded, holding his ground as he she advanced towards him.

"I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." She said stopping a few paces away. "And you are?"

"Look me up under the Ripper of Monterey." Stefan said deciding to pass over the subject he'd just gotten into a fight with a mythical figure that he was pretty certain didn't exist. "You seem like a bright girl Buffy, but you have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Is that a fact?" Buffy asked pleasantly, idly twirling the two by four before dropping it and lunging forwards. Stefan was taken unawares as Buffy launched a flying kick to his face that sent him staggering backwards. Then she dropped to the floor and scythed her legs around, taking his from under him. Before Stefan could react she straddled his chest using her legs to pin his arms to his sides. Then Buffy pulled a short wooden stake from inside her jacket and raised it in the air, aimed directly at his heart.

"Well," A voice said from the mouth of the alley as Klaus walked nonchalantly towards them. "This is all rather cosy. I had a feeling you'd like it on top but I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to get off Stefan. I need him alive."

"And if I don't?" Buffy carped.

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to do this." Klaus informed her before seizing her by her blonde hair and hurling her the length of the alley with one hand. Then he pulled Stefan to his feet and turned back towards Buffy who was also getting back up, apparently no worse for wear. Klaus arched an eyebrow.

"Surprised?" Buffy asked evenly.

"More impressed." Klaus retorted. "You remind me of a certain woman I came across a few years ago. Very beautiful, a lot like you in that respect. Name of Glorificus. Ring a bell?"

"Maybe," Buffy said, trying to keep her voice neutral. "You're not going to find out. I've taken two vampires on at the same time and killed them, the same as I'll do to you now."

"You know what?" Klaus said, holding up two fingers as if to frame what he was saying. "I don't think you are. You see Stefan and I have places to go and people to talk to. So if you'll excuse us…" Klaus immediately about faced and sprinted off towards the other end of the alley followed quickly by Stefan. Buffy hurled her stake at their receding backs before following them. They both easily scaled and vaulted over a fifteen foot high steel fence.

Buffy tensed and leapt, making it almost to the top. She hauled herself up the rest of the way and dropped over the other side, landing on her feet. She looked around for her quarry but realised they were nowhere to be seen. Buffy furrowed her brow and wondered why one of them had attempted to hypnotise her. According to Giles, hypnosis was a rare skill among vampires and Buffy herself had only encountered two vampires who used it; Drusilla and the Master. She immediately resolved to mention this encounter to Giles at the first opportunity she got. She leapt back over the fence and headed back to the club again.

* * *

Elena's eighteenth birthday party was in full swing at the boarding house and it turned out the resident party mastermind Caroline had ignored Elena's instructions to keep it small. The house was crammed with several dozen drunk and (in some cases) high teenagers with only Alaric and Damon to try (and fail miserably) to keep order. Damon had earned a brief respite as he had to pick up his girlfriend Andie from work but Alaric had no excuse so he opted to just sit outside, hit the bottle and look mournful. Give the events of the last few months it wasn't difficult.

Alaric was so plastered that he was unable to stop the next arrival to the party wandering inside. It was instantly obvious that this character was no high school student. He was standing dead on six feet tall with a slender but strong looking build. He had mid length brown hair, a healthy growth of stubble and watchful hazel eyes. He was dressed casually, in a black leather jacket, dark blue open necked shirt, jeans and combat boots. He whistled cheerfully as he wandered past Alaric and in the open door. He came to a halt when he beheld the marginally controlled mayhem that the living room had become.

"Looks like I came at the right time." He observed quietly before moving into the room properly and swiping a bottle of beer from a table. He swallowed the contents in a single mouthful before throwing the bottle the length of the room. It ricocheted off the wall and landed in a bin. The man laughed to himself as he located a liquor cabinet. Clearly its owner had the good sense to padlock it with an army of hormonal teenagers in the house. The man immediately crouched next to the cabinet and examined the lock before pulling a slightly bent hairpin from his jeans.

Across the room Caroline was standing against a doorframe, bottle of Southern Comfort in hand as she eyed Tyler and his date Sophie disdainfully. She was so focused on them she didn't notice Matt until he was standing right next to her.

"Since when are they a thing?" He asked, his voice slurring a little. He plucked the bottle from Caroline's hand and took a swig before handing it back. "Who the hell is that?"

"Who?" Caroline asked, tearing her eyes away from Tyler who was perilously close to receiving a lap dance from Sophie. It was instantly clear who Matt was referring to.

The stranger was standing in the middle of the floor, moving to the beat and drinking from what was unmistakeably one of Damon's bottles of vintage malt whiskey. Many a girl was throwing him an interested glance or sidling up to him and it was clear from the stranger's expression he was loving every minute of it. Caroline narrowed her eyes. For some reason she couldn't fathom the man's self-confident smirk rankled. Caroline handed the bottle back to Matt.

"Stay here." She said before starting to push her way through the crowd towards the man until she was right next to him. "Hey! You can't drink that!"

"Oh really?" The man said in a difficult-to-place accent. "Who said so?"

"The guy whose house this is." Caroline glared at the man who seemed utterly relaxed. "Lucky for you he's not here right now but if I were you I'd drop the bottle and leave before he gets back. You'll take my advice if you know what's good for you."

"I know what's good for me." The man said with an infuriating smile. "If I thought the illustrious Salvatore brothers were a threat to me I would've taken them both out years ago. Be a love and tell me where I can find them?"

"Damon isn't here." Caroline barked, fighting to keep her quickly rising temper under control. "Don't you listen?"

"Well isn't that rather pesky." The man observed taking another mouthful of whiskey. "What about Stefan? I can settle for him."

"He isn't here either." Caroline said icily. "You got that? Whoever you've come to see is not here and if you know what's good for you you'll leave now. Fail and we're going to have a problem. Believe me you don't want that."

"Why because you're a vampire?" The man smiled at Caroline's shocked expression at his casual impartation of what was pretty ground breaking information at any rate. "Do you seriously think I would walk right into a vampires den if I wasn't able to handle myself?"

"Who the hell are you?" Caroline demanded. "What do you want with us?"

"That's none of your business, though if you want to take me upstairs to one of the unoccupied bedrooms I might open up." The man said suggestively. "If not the only people I will talk to are one or both of the Salvatore brothers and I'm not leaving until they turn up. So when are you expecting them back?"

"You first." Caroline returned coldly, unwilling to allow this man to get the better of her. "Who are you?"

"My name, or at least the one I'm going by right now is James MacDonald though my friends call me Jamie." He grinned. "If Damon or Stefan turn up any time soon tell them I'm upstairs raiding Damon's special stash of booze."

* * *

**Author Commentary: I'm back and so is Blood and Rose Thorns. I apologise profusely for the fiery death of my first attempt but I am a big believer in the "if at first you don't succeed try and try again until you go insane" approach to my writing. I've never successfully completed a fic in either of these two universes before so attempting a crossover may actually kill me, but I live in hope. I want to get a few things clear. Firstly, this is set almost directly after the series finale of Buffy and season two of the Vampire Diaries. Buffy will get to go toe to toe with Klaus on a much bigger scale sooner or later believe me. I hope to keep my number of original characters as close to one as possible but I can't make any promises. That said there are a wealth of characters I can use in both universes so hopefully the only new face was Jamie's. You may be wondering why he was in Stalingrad. It's simple, the guy loves warfare and battles; the bigger the better and let's be fair, they don't come much bigger than Stalingrad. You will see more flashbacks documenting his story and more often than not it'll be against the backdrop of some awful bloody struggle. The American Civil War, World War One, World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan you name it, he's been there. A word of warning to readers. This fic is not suitable for youngsters. It contains strong language, violence, drug references and adult scenes, though nothing too crazy or descriptive as this is Blood and Rose Thorns, not 50 Shades of Grey. If I haven't dissuaded any younger readers than I only ask you go off ant tutor yourselves in the art of internet history manipulation because I don't want angry dads turning up on my doorstep kicking my head in for corrupting their little darlings. I think that's all you need to know for the time being. I hope you'll read this work and enjoy reading it as much as I hope to enjoy writing it. I would also love a review and I make a point of replying to as many as possible. Until next time…**

**God, the purists will hate me for this.**

**~Ally Todd **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Best of Friends**

**Guest Starring Taylor Kitsch as Jamie MacDonald**

On the 30th of January 1968, the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong ignored the ceasefire reserved for the Vietnamese New Year, known as the Tet Festival and launched a coordinated series of simultaneous attacks on American and South Vietnamese targets all over the war torn country. The "Tet Offensive" as it would come to be known was a surprise attack and thanks mainly to it's meticulous planning and the fanaticism of the attackers the U.S. Military and their South Vietnamese allies didn't know what had hit them.

The resulting counterattacks had turned most of Vietnam into one big pitched battle as the capitalist south and the Americans tried desperately to stop the continuous assaults from the North. They were thrown off balance and were pretty close to becoming combat ineffective in spite of sending every able bodied man into battle. The American Special Forces were winning several of the more isolated battles but the speed and ferocity of the assault meant that the North Vietnamese had made it as far as Saigon, the capital and location of the U.S. Headquarters. The most ferocious fighting however was nearer the middle of the country in the historical city of Hue, where several battalions of the 101st Airborne were based.

"Salvatore!" A burly American soldier wearing a number of ammunition belts bellowed over the constant roar of gunfire. "We're getting chewed up out here! Get your ass on the line!"

"Where do you want me sir?" Private First Class Damon Salvatore yelled back as he fired his rifle before diving into the crater in which the surviving members of his platoon were taking cover.

"You see that building at ten' o clock." His officer roared. "We're taking a lot of sniper fire and rockets from that position. I want you to take two men and clear it out so we can move up the road and clear the way for our tanks. Can you do that?"

"Affirmative sir." Damon loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle and cocked it before picking out two other men. "You and you, we're going to move on my say so. Be ready and whatever you do, don't stop running."

"We'll cover you." Another soldier said as he propped his machine gun up on the lip of the crater. "We'll keep the guys dead ahead down while you move."

"Thanks," Damon nodded before tensing himself. "Prepare to move…moving!" With that Damon was up and running towards the target building. It was only fifty metres away but it might as well have been hundreds. The ground leapt up around all three soldiers feet as snipers started firing but the other members of their platoon started to give them cover fire, making full use of their heavier firepower. Damon and his two comrades made it to the building and crouched behind a partially demolished wall. Staying low, Damon crawled over to a door in the side of the building and tried the handle. It turned and inched open.

"I'll go in first." One of the other soldiers said. "I'll check it out and if it's clear I'll call you in." He headed through the door and for a handful of slow ticking seconds there was silence. Then they were called in. They moved towards a staircase in the corner of the room when Damon saw a shadow moving.

"Contact!" He yelled as a man wielding a rifle came down the stairs and swung his weapon towards him. He was too slow as all three American soldiers fired, killing him instantly. Damon led them towards the stairs and they crouched at the foot, aiming their weapons upwards.

"I'm not keen on heading up there." One soldier said contemplatively. "Who knows how many weapons are pointed at the top of the stairs?"

"Well you've go to ask yourself one question." Damon said quietly. "Who are you more scared of? The Viet Cong or the Captain when we tell him we thought it was too dangerous to clear this building? This is a war and if you don't like danger you're in the wrong line of work."

"So what do you suggest?" The soldier muttered mutinously.

"This." Damon said as he pulled a black cylinder from a pouch on his belt. "This is called a flash bang, developed by the British Special Forces a few years ago. It is what you might call a stun grenade. We toss it up and with a flash and a bang everyone is disorientated momentarily, giving us a vital element of surprise. I say we should test it out. Like it?"

"Love it." One of the other soldiers said right before a grenade clattered down the steps and landed right next to them. As Damon bundled the nearer of his comrades out of range and dived after him the grenade went off with the tell tale sharp crack of high explosives. Damon had been concerned the roof might come in but it held. As he pulled himself up and checked himself for injuries he saw the other soldier under his command and sighed regretfully. The man's head had been cut clean off by the blast and his feet were missing. He averted his eyes and tried to ignore the stench of blood.

"Man down!" He radioed before forcing himself to his feet and back towards the stairs. He exchanged a look with his remaining comrade and tossed a flash bang upwards. They waited for the detonation and then hared up the staircase, shooting three snipers dead before they could recover. Damon kicked a door at the far end of the room open and led through it, rifle at the ready and alert for any danger. It seemed that this floor was almost entirely unoccupied and that struck Damon as slightly odd. This was exactly the sort of environment the Viet Cong favoured when they weren't in the jungle. Extreme close quarters and numerous floors were a nightmare for the American forces.

"It's too quiet." The other soldier said. "Where the hell did they go?"

"I don't know." Damon murmured as he pushed a door open with his rifle. He sighed and slung it over his shoulder before pulling out his sidearm and combat knife. "Our rifles won't help at this sort of range. We're going to have to go close quarters. Keep your eyes open. This stinks of an ambush."

Damon's hunch was almost immediately borne out. They were creeping along a hallway when a man appeared at the other end with a rocket propelled grenade launcher on his shoulder. As Damon and his comrade dived flat and the projectile exploded behind them two more men emerged from doors on either side. Damon committed to a charging movement, slamming into the man coming from the left and propelling him back into the room he'd come from. Damon slammed him against the wall and stabbed him through the throat with his knife before raising his pistol and blowing the man's brains out. Then he returned to the hallway to find both the other targets and his comrade all dead. He sighed regretfully and shook his head.

"Man down." Damon crouched next to one of the dead targets and discovered that he was armed with a MAC 10 machine pistol. While heavy and hard to control due to its extreme rate of fire it was perfect for this sort of combat and he relieved its owner of half a dozen full magazines. Then he spun around as a young woman entered, brandishing a bread knife. Damon annihilated her with a quick burst but she was almost immediately followed by a man carrying a flamethrower. Damon reacted instinctively and charged forwards, tackling the man and taking him to the floor. They landed on a section of the floor that was rotted through. Damon rather abruptly found himself back on the ground floor. The man was struggling but Damon sighed and tore into the man's neck with his teeth, rupturing the carotid artery.

Once the man had stopped struggling Damon headed back upstairs and was on the third floor when he was blindsided by a man who knocked him down with a rifle butt to the head. He stood over Damon triumphantly and pulled out a machete. Then, his head exploded in a scarlet fountain as a door at the other end was kicked open, followed by an American soldier carrying a shotgun. The final Viet Cong charged at him, hollering in Vietnamese but the soldier kept his cool and pulled the trigger, blasting the unfortunate man into the next world. He crossed to Damon and held out his hand. Damon took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"Lucky for you I was passing by." The man said as he reloaded his shotgun. "Do you have a name soldier?"

"Private First Class Salvatore." Damon said as he unslung his rifle again. "101st Airborne."

"Staff Sergeant MacDonald, 75th Army Rangers." The man said. "But I'm Jamie to my friends."

* * *

"I'm sorry Damon," Caroline said as she followed a royally pissed off Damon upstairs to his room. "I tried to stop him but he just wouldn't take the hint or no for an answer while we're at it."

"Hey you!" Damon barked as he burst into his bedroom and saw the mysterious party crasher with his back to him, rummaging in Damon's dresser where he kept his alcohol. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Lamenting the terrible selection." Jamie replied evenly. "Twelve year Lagavulin? Is that the best you can do? What happened to a nice twenty year old Dalwhinnie? No one has any standards any more. Oh well, take the bad with the good that's what I always say." He turned around and smiled at Damon's shocked look. "Hello Damon, it's been a while. No hug?"

"Jamie!" Damon roared before thundering forwards and throwing his arms around the newcomer who returned the embrace. Caroline simply stood, rooted to the spot, having never seen Damon greet anyone with that much affection. Truth be told, it was slightly disconcerting. Jamie smiled as Damon released him.

"There, was that so hard?" He grinned maniacally before switching his gaze to Caroline. "Who's your friend Damon?"

"I'm not his friend." Caroline said before stepping forwards and offering her hand to Jamie. "Caroline Forbes; pleased to meet you…I think."

"The pleasure is all mine," Jamie said graciously, taking the hand and smiling at Caroline. "The last thing I want to do is seem rude but I'd quite like to talk to Damon in private so would you mind going back to your party."

"Not at all." Caroline said before colliding with Elena who was walking in. Her eyes immediately went to Jamie and by the drastic change in his expression Caroline was fairly sure she'd find Jamie's name on Katherine's list of conquests. He stared at Elena before staggering backwards and sitting down heavily on the bed, staring at Elena intently.

"Whoa." He said eventually.

"Before you fly off the handle she's not Katherine." Damon said instantly. "Jamie MacDonald meet Elena Gilbert."

"I know she's not Katherine." Jamie said. "She smells different, and I can hear her heartbeat…wow. How the hell did this happen?"

"You, me, Stefan and pretty much everyone else is wondering the same thing." Damon said as Elena tentatively shook Jamie's hand. "Now, not that I'm not happy to see you but maybe you'd like to tell me what you're doing here. Oh and if you're about to say you were in the neighbourhood save it because the day Jamie MacDonald happens by for the hell of it is the day I strap on a pair on antlers and go to Santa Claus for employment."

"Hilarious Damon." Jamie bit off before turning to Caroline and Elena. "Ladies, while I would dearly love to get to know the pair of you better I really need to talk to Damon in private so please go back down stairs and smoke some weed, do keg stands or whatever it is the kiddies do at parties these days." As soon as Elena had left Jamie turned to Damon. "Wow. She must have had you and Stefan reeling."

"You don't know the half of it." Damon grunted. "So why are you turning up here of all places? I though you were a city boy and proud of it. You hate small towns like this more than I do."

"True but I was in Boston when I caught wind of a spate of animal attacks from Vermont to Georgia." Jamie grunted. "I bribed a contact in the police to get me some details and at least eighty percent of the bodies were ripped apart and drained of blood. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"Might do." Damon said evasively.

"Come on Damon," Jamie said seriously. "I'm many things but stupid is not one of them. Neither is forgetful and I remember a certain vampire whose modus operandi fits perfectly with what I've been seeing up and down the Eastern seaboard. Stefan has gone off the rails again. I was beginning to settle down in Boston and now the ripper of Monterey is back in the building. That's what I call perfect timing."

"I guessed someone else would arrive at the same conclusion." Damon nodded. "I must confess I didn't think it would be you."

"Well you thought wrong." Jamie said. "I came here to see if you knew, and to give you a heads up if you didn't. I don't suppose you could shed some light on what exactly set him off?"

"It's a long story Jamie." Damon waved a hand dismissively. "I doubt it'd interest you very much."

"Well seeing as Stefan's activities could draw attention where it ought not to be drawn you'll bore me." Jamie's features darkened. "I'm not like you or Stefan. I have no soul, no conscience and no remorse. If Stefan doesn't stop with his whole ripper act I'll find him and stake him without a second thought."

"I wouldn't if I were you." Damon said. "I have reason to believe Stefan is hanging around with some seriously dubious company. The sort of company you don't want to piss off."

"How bad can it be?" Jamie said grimly. "I heard rumours that Elijah was operating around here not so long ago. Things don't generally get worse than an Original vampire."

"How about an Original vampire/werewolf hybrid?" Damon said and was satisfied to see Jamie's face grow slightly paler. "You're familiar with Klaus aren't you? _The _Klaus."

"Well seeing as I spent several decades helping Katerina Petrova, now known as Katherine Pierce run from him I'd have to be a complete retard to not be familiar with him." Jamie muttered. "Where does Klaus fit in?"

Damon took a deep breath before giving Jamie a greatly condensed account of the events surrounding the fake Sun and Moon curse and the real curse Klaus was trying to break. Then he explained Elena's part in it and how she had survived. Next he detailed their attempts to avert it and kill Klaus. Finally Damon told Jamie of his werewolf bite and the deal Stefan had made to save his life. Jamie stood back up and crossing to Damon's dresser tore the lid off a bottle of whisky and took a mouthful.

"Niklaus Mikaelson." He murmured under his breath. "He may have his faults but he does know how to make things interesting."

"Niklaus Mikaelson?" Damon echoed. "That's his full name isn't it? How do you know all this?"

"After Katherine left me to them I made it my business to find out everything there is to know about that family." Jamie explained. "I couldn't find out anything about the parents but I still probably know more about them than anyone else alive."

"Fill me in." Damon said.

"All in good time Damon." Jamie replied. "We have to deal with the more immediate problem. We need to find Stefan, get Klaus away from him and get him home so we can de-ripper him."

"You clearly haven't done your homework very well." Damon observed. "Stefan doesn't want to be cured. I know my brother better than anyone else and I known he isn't coming back anytime soon. Plus, if we were to drag Stefan kicking and screaming back here Klaus will follow. I could really live with Klaus figuring out that Elena is alive and well."

"Oh he'll have difficulty doing that," Jamie chuckled darkly. "Once I've killed him slowly and inventively."

"You kill Klaus?" Damon echoed thunderstruck. "You can't do that. It's impossible."

"Oh but I can." Jamie continued. "You see, Klaus doesn't just get to live forever. There's a loophole somewhere. You were conveniently ambiguous about _your_ plan to kill Klaus, but you did have a plan. Cough up and save me the trouble of torturing it out of you."

"We had a witch who was able to channel the equivalent of nuclear magic and deliver Klaus to the brink of death." Damon explained. "Then what one might call an "outside contractor" would finish the job. Unfortunately that's where the plan fell apart. The "outside contractor" double crossed us and spared Klaus instead of killing him."

"Elijah," Jamie muttered, his dark eyes sparkling knowingly. "That guy is one major buzz kill. I'll have to go back to the drawing board. Now, tell me, is my room here still unoccupied?"

* * *

The next morning Jamie decided a meeting was in order and told Damon to get together the best people that could help then deal with Klaus and bring Stefan back home so they could at least try to rehabilitate him. Mindful of Jamie's well-earned reputation as a ruthless and masterful tactician Damon invited Alaric, Bonnie and Caroline. After making the introductions Damon decided to hover in the background and let Jamie run the meeting. He'd been a little worried that Jamie's dry and sarcastic sense of humour might grate on some of the others but he was pleasantly surprised to see that Jamie had finally figured out when to be serious.

"Okay the sooner we get down to business the better." Jamie said as he poured himself a drink. "The way I see it we have two problems. One; Stefan's second personality and the second is Klaus. First of all, we have to get Stefan home before we can even attempt rehab. Secondly, I think we might have to kill Klaus in order to break the hold he has over Stefan."

"We're all behind you on the kill Klaus front," Alaric said hesitantly. "A hundred percent but how are we going to actually do the deed? We've all got every reason to hate him but we tried once and he's still walking, talking and killing. What makes you think we'll have better luck this time around?"

"Damon tells me that you only failed because Elijah welched on your pact." Jamie replied calmly. "I won't do that, because Klaus and I do have history of sorts and there is nothing he can do that will stop me from killing him at the first opportunity. You know, aside from the obvious evisceration, decapitation and dismemberment he's so fond of."

"And how do your propose to avoid that?" Bonnie interjected. "I doubt Klaus made his way to the top of the supernatural food chain by being complacent."

"I'll have you know that you stand in the presence of someone who fought off Klaus and two of his lunatic siblings all by himself." Jamie scratched his chin before continuing. "A large part of that success was luck and I don't think that'll get it done this time. That's where the witch comes in. According to Damon, you were the lynchpin of the plan that Elijah screwed up. Is there any reason why you can't do the same thing again and let me finish him off instead?"

"I don't know…" Bonnie said uncertainly but Jamie cut across her.

"I heard that you can channel the power of a hundred dead witches, you delivered Klaus to the brink of death and pulled off a successful resurrection to boot." He stated smoothly. "That means you've got some serious juice. Oh and in case you're wondering, you don't get a choice in this. You either join us on the journey to Chicago voluntarily or I kick you all the way there. Come on Bonnie, what have you got to lose. Damon filled me in on what's been happening since he and Stefan arrived in town. I know you count Stefan as a friend so helping me to kill Klaus will be a really good way to stop Stefan ripping the heads off some poor girl. Isn't that worth a few sacrifices?"

"Um, Jamie…" Caroline spoke up nervously. "Forgive my ignorance but don't you think we should bring Elena along. If anyone can get through to him, it's her."

"Damon thinks it'd be better if Elena didn't know about this little expedition and I have to admit I agree." Jamie said evenly. "It'd be a lot better for Elena to not see Stefan as a ripper and it'd _definitely _be better for Klaus to go on thinking that Elena is dead. So that's where you come in Caroline. Damon has told me you have a talent for providing a distraction on demand."

"Oh he did, did he?" Caroline growled shooting Damon a venomous look.

"We're going to be out of town for a few days." Jamie continued. "Caroline you have to distract Elena and stop her from finding out what we're up to. Do whatever it takes. Bonnie, is visiting her father. Alaric is headed to a history exhibition in Boston while Damon and I are on a road trip, for old time's sake. You got all that?"

"Yeah I got it but I'm not sure I can convince Elena." Caroline said. "Arguably her three closest friends all heading out of town within days of a mysterious stranger turning up? That's a bit hard to swallow by anyone's standards. You don't know Elena; you don't know how smart she is. She'll smell a rat the size of an elephant."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you could do it." Jamie said, locking his hazel eyes on Caroline's blue. "Get her piss poor drunk if you have to. Suggest a girl's night out."

"So who's going to do what when we get to Chicago?" Alaric asked. "I'll need some advance notice so I can make decisions about what equipment we'll need."

"I daresay I can provide anything you need." Jamie chuckled. "But I suppose it can't hurt to give you an overview. While Bonnie and I deal with Klaus Alaric and Damon will track down Stefan. He won't stray far from Klaus so it shouldn't be too hard. Use whatever means are available to you to subdue him and then we'll get out if there whether Klaus is dead or not."

"Hold on a second," Damon interrupted heatedly. "What do you mean whether Klaus is dead or not? If we kidnap Stefan from under his nose he'll come right back to Mystic Falls."

"And we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Jamie explained patiently. "My interest in this venture is to kill Klaus but Stefan takes precedence because his antics are drawing attention to the vampire population in general and I don't need that happening on my watch. Understand?"

"Sometimes I forget how annoying you soulless lot are." Damon muttered under his breath. "Never for long though."

* * *

Buffy awoke suddenly in one of the hotel rooms she and her friends were sharing while they stayed in Chicago. Ignoring the mild hangover exercising its visitation rights Buffy turned her head to look at the clock and saw it was coming up on quarter past ten. That meant Giles was probably downstairs eating breakfast. Buffy rolled out of bed and after popping a couple of painkillers to battle her hangover she headed into the shower.

After a shower and change of clothes Buffy decided to go in search of her mentor. She passed Xander in the hallway and the only response she got when she wished him a good morning was a strangled growl and glare. Ever since Xander had lost his beloved Anya in Sunnydale he hadn't been coping very well. He'd developed a tidy cocaine habit but once Willow and Buffy had forced him to break that habit he'd turned to alcohol. As far as they were concerned Xander had to deal somehow though any time he went to an off-license, bar or club he had to be accompanied by one of them to stop him going totally off the rails.

Buffy headed over to Giles and was all ready to tell him what had happened at the club the previous night but before she could Giles distracted her.

"Buffy good morning." He smiled at her. "I'm glad you're up. I happen to have found Dawn a suitable high school for her senior year."

"Oh." Buffy said. For the entirety of the summer break Giles had been acting as a parent to the entire group. He'd disposed of Xander's cocaine stash, kept in contact with most of the new Slayers as they embarked on expeditions to find their sisters all over the globe and he'd even started (somewhat reluctantly it must be said) to train Andrew into becoming a new Watcher. One of his most important jobs in Buffy's eyes was finding Dawn a school where she could relax and have a comparatively normal senior year. "Fill me in."

"It's in a small town called Mystic Falls, Virginia." Giles explained. "The school year starts in two weeks and I've already had my contact in Amsterdam draw up some fake files for Dawn so it looks official." Several years before, during his "rebellious, bad magic, ticking time bomb who hates the world" phase Giles had met a forger demon when he and his friends had decide to get fake ID's for a trip to New York.

"What about the town itself?" Buffy asked. "Does it look okay? Basically all I really need to know, is there anything that suggests it was built atop a portal to hell?"

"It seems remarkably quiet but Virginia was never high on the hotbed for demonic activity list the Coven put together after Sunnydale went down." Giles clarified. "There was a spate of serial killings there but they caught the culprit and it _was_ in 1912."

"Sounds okay I guess." Buffy said dubiously. For some reason she couldn't quite fathom she had a deep sense of unease about this sleepy little town in Virginia. "Maybe we should run it past Angel, just to make sure?"

"I suspect Angel might have his hands full as CEO of a company as large as Wolfram and Hart, especially in a branch within two hour's drive from the location of the old Sunnydale Hellmouth." Giles said. "Let's give it a try, and if something does come up we can easily uproot and head somewhere else."

"I suppose we could give it a try." Buffy forced a smile. "What are we likely to find there that we haven't faced before?"

"Exactly." Giles agreed. "And what can be worse than an army of prehistoric vampires. Most of us lived through it, so we can live through anything." He noticed the subtle change on Buffy's features and immediately attempted to backpedal. "Buffy, I'm so sorry. I didn't think…"

"It's okay Giles." Buffy said, blinking back unshed tears. She tried not to dwell on Spike's death too much but that didn't mean that the platinum blonde vampire's end had left a huge void in her, no matter how heroically he'd gone out. She knew Spike would've wanted to die like that but that didn't do much to alleviate the pain she felt at his passing. She'd also tried to figure out whether she really meant it when she told him she loved him without much success.

"So how was last night?" Giles had evidently decided that changing the subject might be tactful. "Did Xander behave himself?"

"He seemed alright but there was something interesting that happened." Buffy said, recalling the meeting with Klaus and Stefan. "There was a couple of vampires and one, an English guy calling himself Klaus was making eyes at me, though he seemed more interested in fixing me up with his friend, Stefan. Do you know if vampires can perform hypnosis?"

"I know the Master was reputed to possess that gift but we both know it didn't work on you, maybe some sort of Slayer immunity?" Giles said. "Drusilla is another possibility? Why do you ask?"

"Because I think Stefan tried to hypnotise me into coming outside with him so he could feed on me." Buffy explained matter-of-factly. "I acted like it was working so I could stake him outside and minimise collateral damage."

"I'm sensing there was a bit more to it than that." Giles observed dryly.

"It was no great fight and I was all lined up to stake Stefan when Klaus joined in." Buffy continued. "He blindsided me and threw me a lot further than I would've believed possible. The thing is, he didn't follow through. He and Stefan just about faced and booked it out of the alley. I tried to follow but they pulled a Houdini."

"Intriguing." Giles said. "Ordinarily I'd say I'd have to consult my books but most of them are in Bath or are buried beneath what's left of Sunnydale. Luckily we do have an alternative source to talk to."

"Let me guess," Buffy said. "This is exactly the sort of thing we should bother the CEO of the Los Angele's offices of Wolfram and Hart with?"

"Exactly." Giles nodded. "They may be an evil law firm but they have records on pretty much everything that ever happened. They'll probably be able to find everything on these guys in minutes if not seconds. Is there anything else you remember about them?"

"After he tried to bite me Stefan mentioned something." Buffy cast her mind back to the previous night. "Something about the Ripper of Montenegro. Or Montgomery?"

"Do you mean Monterey?" Giles asked immediately.

"Yeah that's it." Buffy said after a moment's thought. "He said; "look me up under the Ripper of Monterey". Is that bad?"

"More than that." Giles replied gravely. "The Ripper of Monterey was the name of a vampire who wiped out an entire migrant village around the area of modern day Monterey, California in 1917. As far as the Watchers Council knew, they never determined the identity of the vampire but on a list of the worst vampires in history the Ripper of Monterey was at number three, behind William the Bloody and Angelus. Apparently the Rippers modus operandi was particularly grisly. He was known to black out and feed so hard he ripped his victims apart."

"Charming." Buffy deadpanned. "I'll tell you one thing. If anyone knows who this guy is I'd put my money on Wolfram and Hart. Judging by what you said about them, it sounds like their idea of employee of the month."

"Indeed." Giles nodded. "I suppose he could just be a copycat vampire trying sound more impressive than he actually is? We've dusted the odd vampire masquerading as Spike or Angel after all."

* * *

"Well that was interesting last night, wasn't it?" Klaus chuckled good naturedly as he unlocked the rear of the HGV he and Stefan had travelled with. "It's been a while since anyone could resist your compulsion."

"I'm glad you had fun." Stefan muttered under his breath massaging his bruised face as he climbed into the truck after Klaus. Then he stopped when he beheld the five coffins inside the truck. "Oh I see where this is going. You're reuniting your family."

"Wrong again Stefan." Klaus said pleasantly. "I will reunite my family when the time is right. Right now is not that time. I am here to reunite you with an old friend. Klaus crossed to one of the coffins and unlocked it before smiling and opening the lid. "Look familiar?"

Stefan walked over to the coffin and looked in. Inside was the desiccated figure of a young woman with long blonde hair, and dagger in her chest, wearing a short white dress; the type worn by the archetypal twenties flapper. Stefan couldn't explain why but he had the vaguest feeling he'd seen her before, but then again he'd seen plenty of women during the twenties. He looked to Klaus and shrugged.

"I've never seen that woman before in my life." He said tonelessly.

"She'd hate to hear that." Klaus laughed before pulling the dagger from the woman's chest. "Rebekah's temper is worse than mine. Rise and shine little sister. Wait outside Stefan, Rebekah is known to lash out and you don't want to be caught in the crossfire." Klaus sat atop another of the coffins and pulling out a bottle of whisky unscrewed the top and took a mouthful while he waited patiently for his sister to regain consciousness.

The silence stretched and Klaus allowed his mind to wander freely before coming to rest on the subject of the previous night's encounter in the club. The women could've had vervain on her, but Klaus hadn't caught the scent and in the past he'd even been able to smell it when the subject had ingested it. That in itself was interesting. She definitely wasn't a vampire as he'd heard her heart beat, but she'd easily bested Stefan in hand to hand combat. That in itself was interesting but not exactly unprecedented. Klaus was many things but he wasn't sexist. He knew many women that could hold their own against men, including one whom he was fairly certain was the origin of the phrase "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and speaking of which…Klaus sighed in annoyance and walked over to the coffin.

"Any time now Rebekah." He growled before tossing the empty whisky bottle aside. Then he crossed to the door, pushed it up and called the HGV driver over. "When she awakes, volunteer your carotid artery and let her feed until you die."

"Problems?" Stefan asked, lounging against the car.

"She's being dramatic." Klaus announced. "Come on, while we're waiting let's go out and have some fun."

* * *

**Author Commentary: Two down, God only knows how many to go. I'd like to clarify something in case anyone's wondering. One of my reviewers pointed out to me that the opening segment in chapter one was a little confusing so I believe the opening to this chapter might help. They were set in 1943 and 1968 respectively and were the setting for the bloodiest battles in their respective conflicts. They were both put in to show Jamie's real love for warfare in all its forms and when I write another flashback you should begin to see why. I also wanted to work in my own experiences in warfare (although I pray I'll never be involved in bloodshed on the scale of Stalingrad). That said, this is not Jamie's story. It really depends on your perspective but I will have to focus on the Damon/Stefan/Elena triangle, Xander's gradually unravelling mental state, Stefan and Klaus' bromance and Buffy's attempting to move on from Spike. Regardless what Spike said, I think Buffy did love him on some level. Let me know what your take on the whole thing is. I liked giving Jamie a more serious "military tactician" side but as you might imagine things are not going to go entirely to plan in the next chapters. Speaking of which you might see a familiar face show up sooner or later. Think, who was in Chicago at this time in the world of the Vampire Diaries? Someone who kills everything she touches. Someone Jamie calls Kitty Kat. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh and there's a blossoming romance coming up as well as the appearance of a certain Buffyverse character that makes Klaus look responsible, reserved and sane. Thanks go out aplenty to everyone who's reviewed, subscribed and added this work to their own favourites. Please keep it up I welcome praise, constructive criticism and flames. I just won't reply to the latter. Thanks again and now I have to go because if I don't start mainlining coffee soon I'll start to get dizzy.**

**I have a high level caffeine addiction.**

**~Ally Todd**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Plan A**

**Guest Starring Taylor Kitsch as Jamie MacDonald**

They took two cars on the drive to Chicago, Damon and Alaric in Damon's Camaro and Bonnie and Jamie in Jamie's car, a well looked after Aston Martin DB9. They'd decided that this was the best approach so Alaric and Damon could get Stefan out of Chicago before Klaus even noticed he was gone as he would be too busy dealing with an enormously powerful witch and a highly skilled vampire who'd fought him off and lived to tell the tale.

"So," Jamie said as he followed Damon's tail lamps. "Damon tells me that if you were to channel all the power of a hundred dead witches through yourself it would kill you. Tell me, how much would you be able to channel without killing yourself?"

"Is that your way of telling me you care?" Bonnie enquired lightly. She'd initially been a little wary of Jamie but after spending several hours in a car with him she'd started warming up to the charismatic vampire. She got the impression that Jamie knew what he was doing and was constantly planning for every conceivable complication.

"Behave yourself." Jamie snorted dismissively. "I think it just might be useful to have you around to split Klaus' attention a little, you know, give him someone else to aim at. All I need to know is can you do him a lot of damage without endangering yourself?"

"I can definitely hurt him." Bonnie nodded. "When I delivered him to the brink of death for Elijah I didn't die but I had a migraine for a month afterwards."

"Basically what I need from you Bonnie is to do him as much damage as possible without endangering yourself, and then I'll finish him myself." Jamie grimaced. "That said, I hope you're not squeamish because when I do strike the killing blow it will not be pretty, nor will it be quick. I've lived for centuries and I've done things that even Klaus would draw the line at. I plan to kill him slowly and inventively."

"Do whatever you deem necessary." Bonnie said firmly. "Stefan saved my life so I owe him and Klaus…well he killed a friend of mine _and _her aunt and he damn near killed me so if you ask me he deserves everything he's got coming."

"Hold on to that." Jamie grunted. "It's not going to be pretty. You see, back in the day I ran with a gang of vampires who were particularly brutal even by our standards. I taught them everything they know. Have you ever heard of a group called the Whirlwind?"

"Should I have?"

"You should be thankful if you haven't." Jamie admitted. "If you knew about them you probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Between you and me, the Whirlwind make Klaus and his whole family look like angels."

"I've seen some pretty bad things in my time, including Katherine Pierce." Bonnie retorted. "I think I can handle it. Fill me in on these Whirlwind vampires."

"Just remember you asked for it." Jamie said, deadly serious. "Discounting myself they were four vampires that set about styling themselves as the worst of the worst in their chosen fields, so to speak. There was Darla, the most seductive, Angelus, the most evil, Drusilla, the most insane and William the Bloody a.k.a Spike, the most violent. When I hung around with them I called myself the most destructive. Truth be told, I didn't actually have too much time for Angelus or Drusilla. I had a bit of a thing with Darla, but so did Angelus and she delighted in setting us off against each other. Spike and I had a sort of brothers-in-arms thing going on. We were all five of us, the purest evil on the face of the Earth. You mentioned Katherine Pierce. Next to the Whirlwind she was strictly second rate."

"What changed for you?" Bonnie asked. "You don't strike me as a particularly murderous type."

"Oh believe me; I'd drain you drier than the Sahara if I got half a chance." Jamie said, utterly straight faced. "However, for the time being I need you alive and even if we do manage to kill Klaus I probably won't kill you. You see, I quite like the town of Mystic Falls and I feel I might like to settle down for a decade or two and you strike me as rather popular in your little town. So popular in fact that I suspect people might come after me if I killed you. I am a creature of pure malevolent evil Bonnie but I don't believe in making life difficult for myself if I can avoid it."

"Well I think I ought to warn you that the rules I set down for Damon apply to all vampires in Mystic Falls." Bonnie said ominously. "You spill one drop of innocent blood and we'll have a problem."

"That might work with Damon but you'll have to revise the rule for me." Jamie replied easily. "Damon and I are different. He has a soul, I do not. No soul, no conscience, no remorse. Basically I haven't a shred of humanity. I'm a true vampire while Damon is one of the others."

"The others?" Bonnie echoed.

"Okay time for a little vampire history and folklore though hell knows why I'm telling you this." Jamie grumbled. "This world is older than you can possibly hope to comprehend and contrary to popular mythology it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their... their Hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for man. All that remains of the old ones are vestiges, magic and certain creatures."

"Like vampires." Bonnie said.

"No one knows for sure the details but I personally believe this." Jamie continued. "The last demon to leave this reality fed off a human and mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the Earth, feeding... killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Those vampires are the origin of all the myths and legends surrounding the bloodsuckers. We are demons in a human body, devoid of compassion, remorse or humanity. We are the origin of all the horror stories about vampires."

"So what about those like Damon and Stefan?" Bonnie asked. "Where do they fit in?"

"The way I heard it a sort of subspecies evolved roughly a thousand years ago." Jamie explained. "They have some things in common with the original vampires, namely a high iron diet, aversion to sunlight, superior strength and so on. That aside, they retained some of their humanity, including their souls and their ability to feel compassion, grief and love. Somehow, I don't know why or how they have some ability to turn that humanity off and come a lot closer to the original vampires but most of us still see them as abominations and only make contact when they're trying to kill them."

"You don't seem very homicidal around Damon." Bonnie observed.

"I actually took the time to get to know one or two of the others." Jamie smiled. "I could've chosen better than Katerina Petrova, but she wasn't the only one I got to know. One in particular caught my attention. Her name was Alexia Branson and she made me see that we're not too different. We're simply people with differing lifestyles trying to make our way in this, our magic world. When I heard Damon killed Alexia or Lexi as she was known I seriously considered killing him myself but Damon has always been a friend to me, and I know how he flies off the handle every now and then. Now we'll be in Chicago in a few hours so I suggest you get some shuteye. You'll need it."

* * *

Caroline had decided the best way to distract Elena was to accompany her up to the Gilbert lake house, order pizza and watch some romantic comedies. Elena had initially been reluctant without Bonnie to round out the group but when Caroline told her that Bonnie was staying with her father she'd agreed. Caroline disliked lying to her lifelong friend but if Jamie's plan resulted in killing Klaus and bringing Stefan back home it was worth a few sacrifices.

Predictably, after a great deal of pizza, beer (with some blood in Caroline's case) and a viewing of _The Notebook _the conversation turned to boys.

"So Caroline," Elena said, forcing what she hoped was a mischievous smile. "What's up with you and Tyler? There's something going on there am I right?"

"Tyler?" Caroline laughed. "Yeah right. We're friends but that's as far as it goes and we're both okay with it. I'm a vampire, he's a werewolf so nothing will ever happen. Any even if I was interested in Tyler like that, you kissed Damon. You've got no room to criticise my choice of men."

"I thought he was going to die." Elena protested, possessed by a powerful need to defend herself. "I was a goodbye kiss."

"So you'll kiss anyone on their deathbed." Caroline snorted. "Credit me with some intelligence Elena. I'm far from Damon's biggest fan seeing as I know he's a sociopathic narcissist but I know you're attracted to him. You wouldn't have kissed him if you weren't attracted to him on some level."

"Even if I was it'll always be Stefan." Elena replied stubbornly. "Damon knows that and he respects it."

"Yet, you kissed him." Caroline said objectively. "If we factor in the fact that Damon's dearest wish is to get together with you it probably messed with his head."

"What's your point Caroline?" Elena demanded, starting to get annoyed.

"Okay I have to tell you something but I want you to promise you won't freak out or do something crazy." Caroline said, trying not to think how the others might react if they knew the turn this conversation had taken. "You know how Damon, Alaric, Bonnie and Damon's friend Jamie are all out of town. The reasons I gave you were not exactly true."

"What are you talking about?" Elena growled ominously.

"Over the summer, Damon, Alaric and my mum have been tracking Klaus and Stefan's victims up and down the Eastern Seaboard." Caroline explained, determinedly avoiding Elena's eye. "They figured out that Stefan and Klaus have headed to Chicago and they're on their on the way there now. As far as I can tell, the plan is to bring Stefan home and kill Klaus in the process."

"What?" Elena yelped. "Are they crazy?"

"I don't think it's a bad idea actually." Caroline said, trying to placate Elena. "You were out when Bonnie attacked Klaus but from what I understand she did him some pretty serious damage. There's no reason why she can't do the same thing again and Jamie has apparently gone up against Klaus and two of his siblings at the same time and walked away."

"Oh and what about Damon and Alaric?" Elena barked. "They're just going to get themselves killed."

"I don't think so." Caroline shook her head vehemently. "While Jamie and Bonnie are dealing with Klaus, Damon and Alaric are going to grab Stefan and bring him back home where they can try to rehabilitate him."

"What makes them think Stefan needs rehabilitation?" Elena asked.

"I don't know all the details but according to Damon, Klaus is not a good influence on Stefan." Caroline explained. "He seems to think that the bodies he's been tracking all summer are mostly, if not all Stefan's handiwork."

"I'll kill him!" Elena exclaimed enraged. "I've gone the whole summer not knowing if Stefan's dead or alive and yet Damon's known all along that he's still alive and possibly going off the rails."

"From what I've heard there's no possibly about it." Caroline said. "Look I know this is a shock but I think the best thing we can do is sit tight and hope that Jamie and Bonnie can handle Klaus."

"No one can handle Klaus!" Elena shouted. "The only chance we had was Elijah and then he turned on us."

"If you have a better plan I'm all ears." Caroline shot back. "I don't know this Jamie guy but he strikes me as a capable fellow and I know Bonnie delivered Klaus to the brink of death before. Is there any reason that she can't do it again? Bonnie is powerful enough to kill Klaus. She successfully resurrected Jeremy remember? I don't know a lot about witchcraft but I do know that resurrection is the mark of a serious amount of magical firepower. Not just anyone can do it."

"Maybe but that's no reason to think Klaus is manageable," Elena snapped. "And just because this Jamie character says he fought Klaus and his siblings doesn't make it true. For all we know he could be a lying fantasist."

"But what if he's telling the truth?" Caroline pressed.

"That's irrelevant." Elena cried in exasperation. "The important point is he could be lying."

"Well I for one don't think so." Caroline replied firmly. "I know that sometimes my instincts leave a lot to be desired but when you looked into his eyes you could see that he was telling the truth, or thought he was at any rate. Anyway, this plan came about because Damon, Alaric, Bonnie and I at least want to help Stefan and if we happen to kill Klaus, thus avenging Jenna don't you think it'll have been worth it."

"Didn't anyone consider that I could be helpful?" Elena said. "If anyone can talk Stefan down it'll be me."

"Well to be honest I did bring up that possibility but Jamie put the kibosh on that and I have to admit he has a point." Caroline sighed and ran a hand down her face before continuing. "We decided not to let you in because Klaus finding out that you're alive qualifies as worst case scenario."

* * *

More than twenty four hours after Klaus had removed the dagger from her chest Rebekah had still not surfaced and the waiting wasn't doing the hybrids mood any favours. Stefan had decided that the best course of action was to give Klaus a wide berth until Rebekah rose so he headed for a small bar on the shores of Lake Michigan and ordered a glass of whisky.

"I'll have what he's having." A familiar voice said as an equally familiar figure took the barstool next to Stefan.

"What do you want Damon?" Stefan grunted noncommittally.

"Well that's a bit rude." Damon replied evenly. "I travel a not inconsiderable distance to see my baby bro and he's being all surly and uncommunicative. You have to stop playing bootlick to that hybrid freak. It's messing with your manners."

"Thanks for your advice and I don't remember asking." Stefan bit off. "Now tell me what you're doing here. The sooner you're out of my hair the better."

"Very well, to business then." Damon chuckled. "I want you to come back the Mystic Falls with me and stop feeding off the country folk up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I have it on particularly good authority that the squirrels and skunks are missing you. Get your coat."

"Well that was really pathetic." Stefan sneered. "Tell me Damon, what makes you think I want to return to Mystic Falls?"

"Brown hair and eyes, about five foot six, answers to Elena." Damon said. "Is Klaus's hold over you so strong that you've forgotten all about her? Come back to Mystic Falls and make Elena's summer, which thanks to you has been pretty crap thus far."

"Okay that's enough." Stefan snapped. "Listen up. Klaus has some sort of thing going on where I become his partner in vampire crime. If I returned to Mystic Falls, he would follow and knowing him find out that Elena is still alive. If you care about her at all you'll head back and tell her you didn't find me."

"Don't you think I've thought of that?" Damon retorted before deploying his master stroke. "I doubt Klaus will follow you if he's dead."

"What have you done?" Stefan demanded.

"Me?" Damon said, pulling a wide-eyed expression of innocence. "Nothing. The same cannot be said for the company I'm keeping at this moment in time. I wouldn't be surprised if they were boiling Klaus' heart in its own juices right now. Back to the here and now, are you going to come back to Mystic Falls or am I going to have to drag you?"

"I think you're going to have to drag me." Stefan growled, standing up and sending his barstool clattering backwards.

"I thought you might say that." Damon took a mouthful of whisky as he stood up and immediately spat said mouthful in Stefan's face. As Stefan staggered backwards cursing Damon grabbed his brother by the front of his shirt and hurled him headfirst through the front window of the bar. As Damon clambered through what was left of the window Stefan got back to his feet and faced his brother off, livid.

"I am so going to kick your ass!" He growled.

"You know that threat gets scarier every time I hear it." Damon carped as he walked slowly towards Stefan with a self-assured grin on his face. "It doesn't have to be this way brother."

"Actually Damon, I think it really does have to be this way." Stefan countered before haring forwards and tackling Damon. Both brothers hit the ground with Stefan on top but before he could attack Damon jabbed a stun gun under his brother's rib cage. Stefan bellowed in pain and Damon capitalised on the distraction, shoving his brother off him, hopping back to his feet and then honouring Stefan with an upwards kick under the chin.

"What are you making me do this for?" Damon said as he grabbed his stunned brother by the waistband and scruff off his neck and tossed him into a brick wall. Things cracked. Not the bricks.

"Now you know how it feels when I have to clean up your messes." Stefan growled as he coughed up blood and pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Ouch, I suppose I asked for that," Damon replied unruffled. "But at least my messes never revolved around kissing the ass of the man who killed my girlfriend, even if it wasn't exactly permanent."

"I joined him to save you!" Stefan barked, surging to his feet and drooping Damon with a well-aimed right hook. "You might want to remember that and maybe cut me a sliver of slack."

"Maybe I will, but not today." Damon growled as he kicked Stefan's feet from under him and pinned him to the ground. He was just drawing back a fist when he noticed Stefan's face change and his jaw drop. He was staring at something behind Damon and when Damon turned around he nearly swallowed his tongue.

"Well this is very cosy." Katherine Pierce said.

* * *

Bonnie was crouched behind a partially demolished wall a couple of hundred yards from the HGV Klaus was using to transport his family. Jamie had told Bonnie to stay back while he headed over for a closer look. Ten minutes later he crawled back over to her with a grim smile on his face.

"He's in there." He confirmed. "I could smell him but I'm not keen on attacking him in there. We should wait until he comes outside."

"So we wait." Bonnie said. "Have you heard from Alaric and Damon yet? Do you think they've grabbed Stefan?"

"I don't know." Jamie admitted. "In the time I've known them both Damon was always able to best Stefan in a physical confrontation, and even if he can't this time he'll have the teacher backing him up. We can't do anything about it so we just have to hope they know what they're doing. We have our job to do. When Klaus steps outside, I'll make first contact. Then feel free to join me in making like crack and fucking him up."

"I've got your back." Bonnie said, looking a little disconcerted at Jamie's colourful analogy. "Should we agree on a signal for me to come in?"

"Just use your discretion." Jamie replied. "Despite the fact that it's completely against my nature I'm not going to lie to you Bonnie. It'll probably take that hybrid prick ten seconds to tear me limb from limb so if you could intervene before that happens I'd appreciate it."

"Don't worry about that." Bonnie said. "Let's be clear, if anything that you told me about your past and the Whirlwind is true you'd better behave yourself in Mystic Falls but killing Klaus takes precedence over my own personal feelings."

"Maybe after we've killed him we can go for a drink." Jamie suggested, half-jokingly. "Get to know me. I'm pretty sure you'd like it."

Before Bonnie could reply with a barbed remark or a withering glare a noise from the direction of the truck caught their attention. The back was opened and Klaus jumped out before closing the door again. Jamie immediately vaulted over the wall and headed towards him, rummaging in his bag. As he neared the hybrid he pulled out a small object and called out.

"Long time no see Klaus!" He shouted before tossing the object in Klaus' face.

Klaus smiled, instantly recognising the voice as he turned, right before the flash bang grenade Jamie had thrown at him exploded in his face. Jamie had closed his eyes right before the detonation and quickly applied earplugs so he was almost unaffected by the explosion. The same could not be said for Klaus who staggered backwards. Jamie capitalised on this by lunging forwards and sending Klaus tumbling to the ground under a blitz of well aimed punches.

"Well, well, well," Jamie said as he stood over the stunned hybrid. "What's the matter Klaus don't you like surprises?"

"You are making a very big mistake." Klaus said as he got back to his feet and faced Jamie off.

"Oh I'm making no mistake." Jamie growled as he pulled out a hatchet and started to idly twirl it, his eyes pinned on Klaus. "You're the one who's made the mistake, like not killing me when you had the chance."

"Look Jamie it's lovely to see you and all that but you should consider very carefully before you get into it with me." Klaus said in a soft deadly voice. "Turn around and walk away, or you're not going to have legs to walk on, do you catch my drift?"

"Is that a threat?" Jamie steamed.

"Yes that is a threat." Klaus growled. "You don't have to do this. I'm over what happened the last time we met and I'm happy to let you be the vampire that got way. Now your times up. Take care now, bye-bye then."

"Oh I'm going nowhere Klaus," Jamie retorted angrily. "Until I see you scared. Scared like the vast majority of your innocent victims must have been before you slaughtered them for kicks."

"You want to see me scared?" Klaus jeered. "Well look at me I'm absolutely terrified. Come on Jamie, it's going to take someone bigger than you to scare me. Oh and don't go taking the moral high ground with me. You've done just as much damage as I have in your time."

"Maybe but at least I'm open about being pure evil." Jamie growled and his face changed into a demonic visage with obscenely chiselled features, yellow eyes and fangs very much in evidence. "As for right now, I want to see just how good you are. Have you got the bottle to take me?"

"Let's find out." Klaus said.

Jamie opened the hostilities by swinging his hatchet at Klaus' head while kicking him in the ribs. Klaus took the blow without flinching and ducked the swing. Jamie brought his weapon down and around, attempting to scalp Klaus. The hybrid however was ready. He punched Jamie's arm with a paralysing force, sending the hatchet clattering to the ground and then followed through with a punch to Jamie's chest. The force of the blow took Jamie off his feet and sent him flying through the air until his progress was halted by a large metal dumpster, his momentum putting a large dent in it. Klaus shook his head and laughed before kicking the hatchet towards Jamie.

"Pick it up and have another go!" He yelled before baiting Jamie with the international "come on then" gesture.

Jamie needed no further encouragement but this time he hurled the hatchet towards Klaus with all his considerable strength. Loaded with centrifugal force the hatchet probably would've split Klaus' skull in half but it missed his head and buried itself in Klaus' shoulder instead. Klaus roared in pain and Jamie acted quickly. He covered the distance between them in one leap and wrenched the hatchet free before slashing Klaus across the chest with it. Klaus managed to shove Jamie away but the vampire came right back to the attack swinging the hatchet like a man possessed, switching it up with kicks and punches that would orbit a generously proportioned walrus. Jamie laughed, his attack relentless, giving Klaus no time to fight back.

Bonnie decided that there was no better time to join in and she stood up and brought her powers to bear on the brawling pair. Klaus managed to break away before drawing back a fist intending to smash Jamie's skull to smithereens with a single punch. He was deeply surprised when his fist met an invisible barrier. It repelled him with so much force he staggered backwards, surprised to say the very least. Jamie laughed.

"You don't think I came alone did you?" He chirped. "Bonnie tells me you two know each other."

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon enquired before spitting contemptuously at Katherine who sidestepped his effort easily. "You do know that Klaus is in this city and he could pop up at any time."

"Basic rule Damon," Katherine replied easily. "Klaus is a lot more likely to find me if I'm hiding my ass on the other side of the globe than if I hide directly under his nose. He thinks that I'm so terrified of him that I wouldn't be on the same continent so he doesn't bother searching. It's elementary my dear Damon."

"No one likes a smart arse." Damon grunted. "Now why don't you tell me what you want and then get lost before I'm forced to stake you?"

"You won't kill me," Katherine said calmly. "You'd miss me but the general reason I'm here is to talk you out of ruining your brother's handsome face."

"I didn't know you cared." Stefan snickered before Damon knocked him cold with a swift right cross to the temple, getting a good shot on the thinnest part of the skull and giving his brain a right old rattling.

"Much as my brother is an insufferable martyr who needs his ass kicked he does have a point." Damon growled as he stood up. "The Katherine I know cares about one person and one person only. So I'll ask you again. What do you want? I know the truth is a foreign concept to you but try your best."

"Maybe I missed you." Katherine quipped. "I must say Damon, I cannot back you on your choice of partner in vampire crime. Jamie MacDonald? That guy is to well-laid plans what the Prius is to high performance sports cars. Stefan is off the wagon and is Klaus' new apprentice and you decide the best thing to do is bring in Jamie? Tell me Damon, does the phrase gas to the flames mean anything to you?"

"Thanks for the critique and I don't remember asking." Damon bit off. "As far as I know Jamie is the only person I know who has fought Klaus off and lived to talk about it so if I'm looking to kill that hybrid freak he's the best chance I've got."

"Did Jamie tell you how he ended up fighting Klaus in the first place." Katherine smiled viciously. "He does have his faults but Jamie had two particular skills that caught my interest. One; he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of how to satisfy a woman and two; he is a master at providing a high profile distraction at a moment's notice. If I was to stay in one place too long Klaus would eventually find me and he nearly caught me in Tuscany 1731. I started running and left Jamie to distract Klaus."

"You mean you left him to die." Damon stated distastefully.

"I will admit that I was surprised he survived, and even more floored when I heard it was not just Klaus he fought off but two other Original siblings." Katherine grimaced momentarily. "I checked up on him every few decades but I'm always clever enough to not let him know. I left Jamie to die and I don't think it's a leap to imagine he's not very happy about it. Throw in his ability to fight three Originals at the same time and we've got one person I'd rather not see too much of."

"You've got guts I'll give you that much." Damon said. "You're in a city with not one, but two of your mortal enemies."

"They'll be too busy knocking seven colours of crap out of each other to worry about little old me." Katherine stated waving a hand airily. "The real reason that I'm here, I heard Stefan was in town and I fancied looking him up and then lo and behold his brother rocks up with Jamie MacDonald, Bonnie Bennett and the simply delicious history teacher in tow."

"I didn't know that I was in with a chance." A voice said and Katherine spun around to see Alaric standing behind her carrying a dart rifle (that Jamie had procured after the execution of its former owner, an ivory hunter, in Sierra Leone). Katherine was momentarily paralysed with surprise that Alaric had managed to sneak up unheard. Alaric was not similarly surprised and he immediately dropped Katherine with a single vervain filled dart to her chest. Alaric then fired a second dart into the side of Stefan's neck.

"Grab Katherine." Damon ordered as he hefted Stefan in a fireman's lift. "We've got a couple of star crossed lovers to reunite and I'm not talking about Stefan and Elena."

"Have you heard from Bonnie and Jamie?" Alaric asked.

"No but I'm sure they're doing fine." Damon said. "I'd never tell him this but there is probably nothing Jamie can't handle, and now he's got the witch backing him up he'll be okay."

* * *

Jamie cursed as he was thrown against the side of a truck for the fifth time in thirty seconds. Even with Bonnie backing him up it was becoming increasingly clear that Klaus had the upper hand. If Jamie was being entirely honest he suspected that Bonnie's intervention was just delaying the inevitable. Jamie had never been particularly worried about dying because he was a big believer that even vampires weren't truly immortal and that sooner or later his dangerous lifestyle would catch up to him. As he pulled himself to his feet there was a loud crunch that intermingled with Klaus screaming bloody murder. He'd apparently been advancing on Bonnie who'd used her powers to crush his right knee cap. Jamie decided to use the distraction to his advantage.

"I'm going to kill you for that." Klaus hissed venomously as he struggled back to his feet.

"You'll kill me for that?" Bonnie said before magically snapping Klaus' right wrist with another wince inducing crunch of impacting bone and snapping tendons. "What were you going to kill me for before?"

Jamie chose this moment to re-enter the fray by leaping over four separate cars and bringing Klaus crashing to the ground with a perfectly timed tackle. Klaus cursed fluently but Jamie paid him no mind and started to bash his head off the ground. Klaus curled his intact leg up and pressed his foot to Jamie's chest pushing him off. Jamie staggered back but came right back to the attack, whipping out a machete and chopping wildly at Klaus. The attack was too wild for accuracy but it succeeded in forcing Klaus back away from Bonnie. Jamie laughed, his attack relentless as he forced the hybrid of the defensive. Klaus defended himself with punches and kicks but Jamie took most of them without flinching. He finally backed Klaus up to a wall and dropping to the floor whipped both his legs around, taking Klaus' from under him. Before Klaus could react Jamie had straddled him, using his legs to pin his arms to his sides as he raised a stake.

"Really Jamie," Klaus sneered as he glared up at him. "You know that won't kill me."

"It'll hurt you." Jamie retorted evenly. "That part's fun."

Jamie brought the stake down in one fast movement, the point aimed at Klaus' heart but before it made impact a hand slashed out of nowhere stopping the stake dead in mid-descent. Attached to the hand was an arm and attached to the arm was Klaus' newly awoken sister Rebekah. Jamie was only able to roll his eyes once before Rebekah backhanded him with astonishing force, launching him nearly twenty metres away. Then she offered her hand to Klaus and pulled him to his feet while Jamie hopped back to his feet and faced the two Original vampires off with Bonnie at his side.

"I must say your timing is impeccable, little sister." Klaus chuckled as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"Just so we're clear Nik, there will be a conversation about you sticking a dagger in my heart but I think we should deal with this problem first." Her eyes lingered on Jamie momentarily. "You look good Jamie."

"Well you know me, I like to look after myself." Jamie replied archly. "I don't suppose I could convince you to sit down like a nice little vampire while I give your brother the slow, painful death he deserves?"

"You suppose correctly." Rebekah replied.

"That was a rhetorical question." Jamie informed her brightly. "I must say I quite like my odds here. The last time we fought, you two had your nutcase brother Kol backing you up, and I didn't have a witch on my side. This is very exciting."

"Believe me it won't stay that way." Klaus spoke quietly but there was a noticeable undercurrent of anger in his voice. "Now are we going to fight or just sit around and make smart arse comments."

Before Jamie could reply another voice spoke up as a familiar (to Klaus anyway) blond haired young woman sauntered casually around a dumpster with a weapon in her right hand. Modelled on a battle axe, it was clearly designed for inflicting maximum damage. The broad blade was fashioned from silver and red metal and the wooden handle was sharpened at the base to make an impromptu stake. Her eyes roved over the combatants before coming to rest on Klaus. She whistled and Jamie looked over to his left to see a dark haired man with an eye patch and an older man with glasses and greying hair raise crossbows. Then car doors slammed as a red haired young woman and a younger man, a kid really, carrying a rifle walked towards them.

"So," The blonde woman said brightly. "Is this a private party or can anyone come out to play?"

* * *

**Author Commentary: I suck, I know. Nothing can excuse how long this took but I did have things to deal with. For starters the season finale of the Vampire Diaries was only broadcast recently in Scotland so I had to deal with the fallout of that (Alaric's back!). I've also been quite ill but you get used to it eventually. Woe is me. I feel I should let you know how things stand with the Scooby Gang. The inner circle and characters you're likely to see the most of are Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Giles and Andrew. As for people like Faith, Kennedy and Wood, they will be addressed in due course. As for making Buffyverse vampires a different species to VD vampires, that will come into play soon enough and you'll get to see how the species play off each other. You may have noticed that for a decent part of the fight with Klaus that Jamie had the upper hand. That was to show that far from being just a two bit vampire mercenary, he actually poses a relative threat to the Originals. His history with them will come out in due course but my absolute favourite thing in this chapter was the appearance of the honourable Katherine Pierce. Trust me, when Jamie meets her again he isn't going to be dancing a jig and their backstory will come out. Her reappearance will also have a negative impact on him, kicking off a process that will send him spiralling into a very dark place indeed. I'd like to thank everyone who has given me a review thus far. It means a lot to me and I hope to receive more in future. Take care.**

**~Ally**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Drastic Action**

**Guest Starring Taylor Kitsch and Juliet Landau**

For a handful of slow ticking seconds the three groups of combatants stared at each other. Jamie, Bonnie and Rebekah were frozen unsure of what to make of the new arrivals who, judging by their armoury looked like they meant business. Predictably it was Klaus who spoke first, his eyes pinned on the blonde woman carrying the axe type weapon.

"I must confess I was hoping to see you again." He said cheerfully. "It's Buffy Summers isn't it?"

"Buffy Summers?" Jamie echoed uneasily, his face shifting back to his human guise as he turned towards her. Uneasy he may have been he also looked slightly impressed, which was a landmark for a very old vampire who claimed to have seen it all. "You're Buffy Summers? _The _Buffy Summers?"

"You've heard of me?" Buffy asked, not taking her eyes of Klaus.

"I know your name by reputation." Jamie replied, trying to feign nonchalance although it was obvious to everyone present that he was rattled. "Most vampires know who you are. I believe you in turn are familiar with a couple of my ex-cohorts. To those who don't know them personally they are known as the Demon with the Face of an Angel and William the Bloody. Ring any bells?"

"A few." Buffy growled. "Look whoever you are, unless you count the fact that you are a vampire I have no quarrel with you so if I were you I'd leave before I reconsider. As for you…" She addressed Klaus directly. "…would you like to finish what you started with me the other night?"

"I know who you are Miss Summers." Klaus said pleasantly. "Your exploits are legendary but Slayers have never posed much of a threat to me before and I don't believe you're any different. Nice axe by the way."

"Yeah, you like it?" Buffy flipped the weapon so the sharpened butt was aimed directly at Klaus' heart and smiled viciously at him. "We call it the scythe? Do you want it in the head or the heart?"

"You're not going to kill me with that toy." Klaus retorted. "I am the Original hybrid. I can't be killed and if you think your little scythe will make a difference you're tragically wrong. Look, I'm going to level with you Buffy. I have no particular quarrel with you so if you walk away, now, you'll get to go on living your pointless little lives. If you stay, every one of you will die. My quarrel with Jamie MacDonald and Bonnie Bennett has nothing to do with you."

"You're a vampire of some description." Buffy replied threateningly. "That makes you fair game."

"Let me break this down for your underdeveloped brain." Klaus growled, dropping his self-satisfied grin. "I have been alive for as near as makes no difference a thousand years. Very nasty and highly motivated people have been after me for quite some time and I'm still here. What does that tell you?"

"That tells me that the phrase "the bigger they come, the harder they fall" strikes me as apt at this juncture." The dark haired young man with the eye patch said as he walked forward to stand next to Buffy. "You called yourself the Original hybrid. I don't know what that means but we've fought a lot worse than you, believe me."

"Oh I don't doubt you." Klaus said, his eyes sparkling maliciously. "I've heard of at least some of your exploits in Sunnydale, California. I must say it is a pity that Anyanka couldn't join us. She used to be a blast."

At that Xander's temper snapped and before anyone could stop him he raised his crossbow and fired the bolt directly at Klaus' heart. Klaus had other ideas and he snatched the projectile from the air, tossed it aside and leapt towards Xander and Buffy. He backhanded Xander sending him hurtling through the air before using his other hand to slap the scythe away before cartwheeling gracefully backwards out of range. He faced Buffy and adopted a fighting stance, feet apart and centre of gravity low.

"The Slayer's mine." Klaus said as Rebekah stepped up to her brother's side. "You can have the others."

While the newcomers spread out to surround the two Originals Bonnie turned to Jamie who was watching the proceedings impassively. Then he turned to Bonnie and handed her his car keys.

"Go and get the car." He ordered. "Then swing around and pick me up at the end of the block."

"What are you going to do?" Bonnie demanded.

"What I do best."

Before Bonnie could stop him he made his move. He darted forwards and leaping over a car landed at the edge of the parking lot where a fence made from wooden posts and lengths of wire was built. He immediately tore one of the posts free of the ground and leapt towards the confrontation.

Xander was pulling himself to his feet and readying himself to meet the advancing Rebekah head on when a fast moving object moved into his eye line. Klaus was dodging Buffy's attacks but Jamie's intent quickly became clear to him. That said all he could do was cry out. It was too late as Jamie charged forwards and used the post to stake Rebekah through the chest. Her mouth opposed open in a silent scream before her skin started to desiccate and she keeled over with almost comical stiffness. Jamie turned towards Xander and offered him a hand up. Xander hesitated before taking it and sparing Rebekah's body a glance.

"She's not dead." Jamie said simply. "Think of it like she'd having a nap and she's not getting up any time soon. I thought it might even up the odds a bit."

"Who are you?" Xander asked.

"My handle's Jamie MacDonald." Jamie replied monotonously. "Look me up. I'm sure it'll make interesting reading." Without another word he sprinted off, leapt over a wall and disappeared. As soon as he reached the meeting point he dove into the passenger seat while Bonnie pulled away.

"Before you even say anything, you're telling Damon that Klaus is still alive." Bonnie growled. "I thought we'd agreed that we wouldn't leave Chicago until he was dead, or at least neutralised."

"That was the plan but sometimes plans don't transfer from paper to real life." Jamie said calmly. "I wouldn't worry your pretty little head over it Bonnie. If even half the things I've heard about Buffy Summers and her merry men are true Klaus will have his hands full dealing with them."

"Who were those people?" Bonnie asked immediately. "How do you know them?"

"I don't know them personally, but I know Buffy Summers by reputation." Jamie replied evenly. "She's the Slayer."

"Slayer?" Bonnie asked blankly.

"Right, I keep forgetting you aren't particularly knowledgeable about the world I walk in and how it works." Jamie said before starting to explain. "Buffy Summers is the latest in a long line of warrior women called vampire Slayers. Vampires aren't their only prey, but that's how they became known. The Slayer is bestowed magically with strength, speed and instinctive combat expertise comparable of that of vampires and she uses these skills to battle vampires, demons and the forces of darkness. When you become a vampire, you're through living by societies rules Bonnie. You're not afraid of anyone or anything, apart from the Slayer. That's her."

"Okay and what happens if the Slayer gets herself killed in the line of duty?" Bonnie asked. "It sounds like a pretty dangerous job."

"The way I understand it, it's more like a calling than a job." Jamie said. "I don't know all the facts but I do know this. When one Slayer dies, another is chosen to take her stead so the Slayer line is a never-ending line of defence for humanity against creatures like me, or Klaus while we're at it. As you can imagine, the Slayers have a much abbreviated life expectancy but from what I've heard Buffy Summers has exceeded it considerably, literally saving the world several times in the process."

"How do you know all this?" Bonnie asked.

"To most vampires the Slayer is an object of cold sweat and frightened whispers." Jamie went on. "But every so often a vampire comes along who really wants to test himself or herself and they seek Slayers out. Do you remember what I told you about the Whirlwind?"

"Darla, Angelus, Drusilla, Spike and Jamie." Bonnie reeled off readily. "Five vampires who styled themselves as the most seductive, evil, insane, violent and destructive respectively. What about them?"

"As far as I know Angelus and Darla have never killed a Slayer." Jamie said. "Drusilla killed one, but Spike and I took it to a whole new level. We sought her out in the hope that we'd get a good fight. Spike was the first of us to actually kill a Slayer, in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Then I managed it in 1922, in this very city funnily enough. Then, I pulled it off again in Thailand, 1967. Finally, ten years later Spike evened the score in New York. As far as I know the score still stands at two apiece."

"Score?" Bonnie exclaimed indignantly. "You mean this is a game to you?"

"You really need to stop hanging out with vampires like the Salvatore brothers and Caroline Forbes." Jamie said noncommittally. "We're a superior species and we have no souls. Human life is of throwaway importance to us."

"I'm beginning to get that." Bonnie spat venomously. "I'm also beginning to realise that your breed of vampire is no better than Klaus."

"I never claimed to be a saint." Jamie growled. "Vampires are naturally a predatory, violent race. No one tells lions or tigers to stop killing for food so why should we?"

"Because you're sentient." Bonnie replied. "Do you truly think Klaus will lose against this Slayer?"

"From what I've heard very few Slayers actually enjoy their calling." Jamie said after a few moments of silent contemplation. "They see it as a curse and that's the primary reason Spike and I were able to best two each. A Slayer wants to be freed of her burden and a bit of them wants to know what it's like to die. Every Slayer, every human has a death wish. Can you look me in the eye and tell me you've never thought about it?"

"Stop sidestepping the question Jamie!" Bonnie shouted hitting him on the shoulder. "Do you think this Slayer will kill Klaus? You can't deny that he had a point when he said that people have been after him for centuries, including Elijah. What makes you think the Slayer will succeed?"

"She was born for this sort of thing." Jamie replied. "You hear things on the underground and Buffy Summers has defeated things that other Slayers I've known would never dream about. If there's any truth in advertising she's killed the vampire that turned me, the Master. She also stopped a demon sucking the world into hell, an Apocalypse cult or two and a real, live, mightier-than-thou Hell God. I genuinely believe she can handle Klaus."

"I hope you're right." Bonnie said darkly. "You're gambling with a lot of lives."

"I do have a sort of sixth sense for this kind of thing." Jamie replied before he pointed a the side of the road. "Hang on, that's Damon's car."

Bonnie pulled over but Jamie leapt out before the car had even stopped moving and he sprinted over to the Camaro against which Alaric and Damon were standing. Jamie was livid.

"I told you not to wait for us!" He snarled.

"I told you he wouldn't take it well." Damon said to Alaric before deciding to attempt pacification. "We captured Stefan a lot quicker than I thought we would so we decided to give you a couple of hours." Alaric stepped aside to reveal Stefan slumped unconscious over the back seats.

"Why didn't you lock him in the trunk?" Jamie enquired.

"Because it's already full." Damon said leading Jamie around to the back of the car and unlocking the trunk to reveal the unconscious form on Katherine slumped in it. A very disquieting gleam flared in Jamie's eyes as he looked down at her.

"This is good." He growled. "As for Klaus, he's not dead but trust me…" Jamie held up a hand to silence Damon who let out a vehement exclamation. "…he's got his hands full and he won't have time to come after us."

"Meaning?" Alaric growled.

"What he means is that we were in the middle of fighting Klaus when a vampire Slayer friend of Jamie's and her friends turned up to give Klaus a run for his evil." Bonnie explained as she reached them.

"How many times, she's no friend of mine." Jamie exclaimed belligerently. "I just know her by reputation because I like to keep tabs on the Slayer. She's a menace to our society."

"Slayer?" Alaric echoed.

"Long story." Jamie waved a hand dismissively. "Now can someone else ride with Bonnie on the way back? She's started taking the moral high ground with me and it's getting on my tits big time. I must say Damon I admire the enterprise of capturing Katherine as well. You wouldn't mind letting me take her apart piece by piece would you?"

"Well the Sherriff has agreed to lock Stefan up in a specially adapted jail house for vampires built back in the 1860's." Damon grunted. "So I guess I can stretch to you turning our cellar into a makeshift torture chamber."

"Decent of you." Jamie chirped.

* * *

Elena and Caroline were waiting outside the Sherriff's building when Damon and Jamie pulled up in Jamie's car. Caroline decided the best policy was to flatly refuse to meet Jamie or Damon's accusatory glances. Elena was not similarly impeded and she hopped off her bench and stormed towards Damon.

"Damon, we need to talk." She growled.

"Whatever, but can it wait?" Damon said as the Sherriff came out of the building and towards them. "We have guest for the jailhouse." He gestured towards the rear of the car as Jamie unceremoniously dragged a familiar figure from the trunk and slung him over his shoulder.

"Stefan!" Elena tried to rush over but Damon stopped her.

"We hit him with enough tranquilisers to drop an elephant." He said firmly. "What's more he's been on a blood bender for the last three months and I don't trust that he won't hurt you if he comes to. I know this seems drastic but I'm doing it for the same reason I didn't tell you I was tracking his victims. I was trying to protect you."

"Stefan told me about his early days as a vampire." Elena shot back angrily. "I think I can handle it."

"This encounter group is all very cosy." Jamie spoke before Damon could answer. "Can I put him down yet?"

"There's a custom made cell in the jailhouse." The Sherriff said. "I don't know who you are but Damon and I can lock Stefan up ourselves? You can't be a party to this and believe me you don't want to be."

"It's okay he knows the score." Damon said. "Jamie MacDonald this is Sherriff Liz Forbes, Liz this is Jamie, one of the most reliable and motivated people I know. A tad abrasive perhaps but if he takes you under his protection you're safe as houses."

"I love you to Damon." Jamie chuckled before turning to the Sherriff. "Pleased to meet you Sherriff now can we please lock Stefan up. Oh, and if he gets uppity just call me and I'll soon silence him. I was a communications officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard during the Iran/Iraq war."

"How does that qualify you to keep him under control?" Liz asked uneasily, mindful of some of the more unseemly details of that particular conflict, particularly those perpetrated by the notorious Iranian force.

"Part of my training involved getting prisoners of war to communicate." Jamie explained pleasantly. "Shall we?"

Liz led Jamie and Damon into the jailhouse and along a corridor. She unlocked a door and led them into a dimly lit room and down a spiral staircase. She unlocked another door and led them into a large stone walled room with a single chair sitting in the middle of the room.

"The founders of this town has this place built." She explained. "Officially it was said that it was a secure area for unruly prisoners in the jailhouse but they had something else in mind. Reinforced steel chair, vervain in the ventilation system and a hatch in the ceiling to let in sunlight. This place was designed to contain and if need be torture a vampire."

"Impressive." Jamie observed as he dumped Stefan in the chair while the Sherriff unlocked the built in manacles on the chair. Then she and Jamie forced Stefan's wrists and ankles into place and locked the manacles around them. "Hopefully that will hold him."

"Well the vervain should keep him weak." The Sherriff said as she locked the door. "Even if he manages to get out of the chair he'll never get through the door and the hatch in the ceiling is secured. Not only is mesh covering it we had it surrounded it with razor wire and if Stefan snags himself on that he'll come out in ribbons."

"You've really thought of everything." Jamie said, sounding genuinely impressed. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got an uber-bitch to torture the living hell out of. I wonder how I should start." He sauntered off looking immensely pleased with himself. He started his car and roared off, doing about thirty miles an hour faster than anyone else. Damon had genuinely feared for his life when Jamie had cheerfully started slaughtering the speed limit on in the Interstate.

"Don't mind Jamie." Damon advised. "He's a bit brusque I know but he means no harm. It was him who came up with a plan to bring Stefan home and maybe it's me but it looks like it worked. You'll call me when he comes to."

"You'll be the first to know." The Sherriff nodded.

"Also whatever you do, don't let Elena in there with him." Damon warned. "He'll be totally focused on getting free and I wouldn't put it past him to play on Elena's feelings to achieve it. I'm also unwilling to risk him hurting her."

"Is that a possibility?" The Sherriff asked incredulously. "I've seen how they are together."

"After the bodies, or more accurately bits of bodies I've seen up and down the country I'd say all bets are off of what he's capable of." Damon grunted. "Every time Stefan has gone off the rails in the past his best friend Lexi was the one person who could drag him back onto the wagon. She's dead now, so it falls to me, possibly with Jamie's help. It took Lexi an average of around twenty years so it'll be quite a job but I am his brother. I'm obligated or something."

"You know Damon, I was unsure about you when I learnt you were a vampire and I'm still trying to figure some things out." The Sherriff said. "I'm not a big advocate of your lifestyle but the way you seem determined to look out for your brother and Elena is pretty admirable."

"With the habit those two have of getting themselves into the smell brown stuff it's a burden, but I manage." Damon replied before noticing Elena making a bee line for him with Caroline in tow. "Now for the difficult part."

"This had better be good Damon." Elena seethed.

"I'll take you home and I'll explain everything there." Damon told her firmly before turning to Caroline. "If I were you Blondie, I'd avoid Jamie until this all blows over. He'll be royally pissed off that you deviated from the plan and he's not exactly forgiving at the best of times."

"Well you'll just have to rein him in." Elena broke in. "If Jamie hurts anyone I care about in this town he'll regret it. He looked like he was in the mood to do some damage when he left."

"Don't worry about him." Damon said. "There was an encounter we didn't expect in Chicago and it got Jamie all wound up. Fortunately, he has a tried and tested method of unwinding."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena demanded.

"I will explain everything Elena but only once I get you home." Damon said. "That way you can shout, scream, stamp your foot, call me every name under the sun and quite possibly assault me without making a scene. You can behave in a very unladylike fashion in the privacy of your own home clear?"

* * *

Caroline decided to disregard Damon's advice and go to see Jamie. She had no intention of apologising for her actions as she was sure she'd acted for the best but she guessed she should make an effort to stay on good terms with him because she got the feeling that if she got on his wrong side she'd regret it. Jamie was sitting in the living room and was using a small knife to carve small pieces of wood. Caroline initially thought he was fashioning wooden bullets like the ones her mother had used but she took a closer look and realised the tips were far sharper than any bullets she'd ever seen.

"What are those for?" She asked.

"You don't want to know." Jamie grunted as he set down the knife and looked up at her, anger plain on his features. "Are you here to explain yourself?"

"If I thought that keeping the truth from Elena was the right thing to do I would've done it." Caroline stated simply. "I'm not apologising for it but the way I see it everything worked out for the best and we should be able to take something away from this."

"Oh believe me I've taken something away from it." Jamie said nastily. "Next time I craft a plan I'll know to not tell Caroline Forbes a word about it unless it involves you in some ridiculously dangerous capacity. Now did you want anything else?"

"My only concerns in this plan were Elena, Bonnie, Stefan and Alaric." Caroline replied acidly. "You and Damon, I couldn't have cared less but in case you haven't noticed we're all still alive meaning that even if you didn't kill Klaus the plan worked. I know I deviated but it didn't affect a thing."

"Well Damon's probably going to have earache tomorrow." Jamie commented. "Elena didn't look happy. I'll tell Damon it's your fault shall I?"

"You seem to be having trouble grasping how my relationship with him works." Caroline bit off. "We tolerate each other because we care about the same people but I still believe it would've been better if he never came here in the first place."

"So you're the chair of the "We Hate Damon Salvatore" fan club?" Jamie observed with a snort of derision. "Words cannot describe how much I don't give a piss. Damon is one of my best friends and if you hate him you hate me."

"I'm not encountering a great deal of difficulty there." Caroline retorted.

"Why are you here Caroline?" Jamie asked. "I find it hard to believe that you came around just to make nice with me despite the fact you blew my plan apart without even asking."

"I kind of need a favour." Caroline said hesitantly.

"Oh I'm not so sure I'm in the mood." Jamie said coldly but Caroline had piqued his interest. "Go on."

"I have this friend called Tyler and he's got this condition." Caroline paused. "There is no way to say this easily so I'll just say it. He's a werewolf and tomorrow night is a full moon. I usually stay with him when he transforms to help him and make sure he doesn't get out of control. The only problem is that I'll probably have to deal with Elena tomorrow night so I was wondering if you could watch over Tyler for me."

"And after you deviated from my plan what do you think?" Jamie grunted.

"No wonder you're friends with Damon." Caroline observed. "Come on Jamie, have you ever done anything for someone else out of the goodness of you heart?"

"I'm not like your kind of vampires." Jamie spat. "I don't have a soul and if you ask Bonnie she'll be able to explain how that works. I don't have a shred of goodness in my heart. So if you'll excuse me I've got work to do." He started gathering up the sharpened pieces of wood and headed for the cellar.

"What do you mean work to do?" Caroline asked uneasily.

"Damon told me how you became a vampire," Jamie said. "Specifically the part that Katherine Pierce played in it. Funnily enough, we were in Chicago and lo and behold Katherine turned up. So Alaric tranquilised her and we dragged her back here so I can have my wicked way with her."

"You're going to do it in the cellar?" Caroline enquired incredulously. "This house has at least eight bedrooms."

"Get your mind out of the gutter." Jamie snickered. "When I said have my wicked way with her I meant torturing the holy living hell out of her. Seeing as she turned you into a vampire I thought you might want to watch." He unlocked the door to the cell in the cellar and smiled sadistically. "Hello Katherine."

"Jamie," Katherine said, forcing a smile although her voice was audibly shaking with what Caroline was fairly sure was sheer terror. "It's good to see you."

"Well I'm glad you feel that way." Jamie grinned. "Tell me Caroline how long do you think it'll take for me to disabuse my little Kitty Kat of that notion?"

"Kitty Kat?" Caroline repeated sounding revolted.

"Okay let's get underway." Jamie laughed before holding up one of the wooden spikes, a disquieting gleam in his eye. "I learnt how to do this in Iran. I made these out of bamboo but we didn't have bamboo in Iran. We had something similar, reeds. Insert them under the fingernails and it's the same sort of thing."

"Please don't." Katherine pleaded as Jamie grabbed her arm and twisted it up. "You don't have to do this."

"Oh I think I absolutely have to do this!" Jamie cried with a light of gleeful sadism in his eyes. "I just want you to know that if you're a screamer do please feel free. You deserve this Katherine. I know it and you know it. Caroline knows it as well don't you." Jamie looked to Caroline.

Caroline didn't reply, instead she averted her eyes and winced as Katherine screamed bloody murder. Jamie however paid her no mind and shoved another wooden spike under a second fingernail, twisting it experimentally in a bid to inflict maximum pain and being rewarded with a howl of agony from his victim. In spite of what Katherine had done Caroline felt a pang of sympathy for her.

"Is that really necessary?" She exclaimed over Katherine's expressions of agony.

"More often than you'd think." Jamie replied delightedly. "Trust me Caroline, everything Katherine has done to you and yours is like cake compared to what Katherine has done in her time. Maybe extreme torture will make her think twice about running for the hills and leaving me to fight off three Originals."

"Why don't you just kill her?" Caroline asked.

"Because she deserves a fate much worse than death and I'm going to seriously enjoy applying it." Jamie said as he grabbed Katherine's other hand and proceeded to shove the bamboo spikes under her fingernails. "Once I'm finished with her, she'll wish she's dead and I will personally make sure she stays alive and in more pain than anyone can possibly endure. If you can't handle it, maybe you should head back upstairs."

Caroline immediately headed upstairs to leave Jamie to it. She sat down on a couch and tried closing her mind to the screams coming from the cellar. Caroline hated Katherine for everything she'd done and she definitely agreed that Katherine deserved a little bit of pain but it was the glee Jamie was taking in the torture that Caroline found disturbing. In fact it actually made her feel quite sick. She was about to leave to avoid the screams when Jamie emerged from the cellar, his hands scarlet and a disquieting grin on his face.

"Okay I've had time to think." He said brightly. "I'll need a bit of time to devise even more imaginative torture methods so I will look after the mongrel for you tomorrow night."

"His name is Tyler." Caroline said between gritted teeth.

"Whatever." Jamie waved a hand dismissively. "I've been on this earth for hundreds of years but I've never seen a werewolf transformation. It sounds like great fun."

"It's not, at least not for Tyler." Caroline said. "I'd heard that it was painful but when I saw it for myself it was a lot worse. He was screaming the place down. It sounded like he broke every bone in his body."

"I'll bet he's all broken up about that." Jamie commented before laughing at his own joke. "That's a good one. I'll have to write that down somewhere."

"I'll give you the details." Caroline said, satisfied that someone would be there for Tyler, albeit someone who was an experienced torturer. "I don't think I need to tell you but don't get to close. A werewolf bite is lethal to vampires."

"Maybe to your breed of vampires but I know vampires of my kind that have been bitten and lived through it." Jamie stated simply. "Of course, I'd rather avoid it. I fought a werewolf once and it nearly killed me."

"What do you mean "my breed of vampires"?" Caroline demanded.

"Ask Bonnie about it." Jamie replied evenly. "I'm sure she'd leap at the chance to betray my confidence. Here's my phone number so you can text me with the details about the wolf boy."

* * *

The late night train rolled into Mystic Falls station and only one passenger got off. She was a tall, pale, raven haired woman wearing a red and black dress that wouldn't have looked out of place in Victorian England. She was also carrying a small porcelain doll with a pink scarf tied over it's eyes. The woman looked around and smiled before lifting the doll up and whispering in it's ear.

"The moon tells me we can fit in here, Miss Edith." She crooned. "And the moon never lies to me."

**Author Commentary: Uh oh, what's Drusilla doing in Mystic Falls. Don't worry all will be revealed soon enough. As for Buffy and Klaus' confrontation I deliberately cut away from it. Believe me, it will be worth the wait. As for Jamie's method of torturing Katherine you may remember that Sayid did the same to Sawyer in Lost. I can see a lot of Sayid in Jamie, apart from the fact that Sayid did have a concept of remorse. Katherine is not just Jamie's new plaything, she has a more interesting purpose that will become more and more evident in upcoming chapters. If you're interested in romance one will become to emerge very soon and if you've been paying attention you might have a pretty good idea. Put your guesses in a review if you're so inclined. I won't tell you if you're right because I don't want to spoil the surprise but I'm interested. I did enjoy referencing Anya because that's one thing guaranteed to set Xander off. A lot of people seem to be looking forward to Willow tearing Klaus a new one but believe me it isn't going to be quite that easy. Remember, Willow is extremely powerful but Klaus is immortal and Willow doesn't have a white oak stake. She'll be able to hurt Klaus but not kill him, at least not yet. They will thrash out their differences though, you can bet on that. Maybe Willow will even make with the flaying. While we're on the subject you cannot deny Warren had it coming. Once again I must thank everyone who has subscribed, read and reviewed thus far so thank you one and all. Keep it up. I'd love to know what you think of my handiwork. **

**~Ally**

**P.S. I must warn you that I am an avid football fan and unless you have been living under a rock for some time you'll know that the FIFA World Cup is taking place in Brazil right now. I am watching it so updates may be a tad sporadic but I promise I will compensate after the final. I probably will update before the end but I am going to be preoccupied. Please don't hate me for this; it only happens once every four years. Oh and I have money on Germany. **


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